Mohali: Mullanpur bank fraud rises to ₹10 crore as more complaints pour in
While Mohali police had initially received 25 complaints against the bank manager, Gaurav Sharma, 35, for stealing a total of ₹9 crore from customers’ accounts, the number of complaints has gone up to 42, leading to detection of theft of another ₹1 crore
The quantum of money siphoned by the manager of Axis Bank in Bansepur, Mullanpur, has risen to ₹10 crore with more complaints from defrauded customers coming in, police said on Saturday.
While police had initially received 25 complaints against the bank manager, Gaurav Sharma, 35, for stealing a total of ₹9 crore from customers’ accounts, the number of complaints has gone up to 42, leading to detection of theft of another ₹1 crore.
Meanwhile, according to sources, police had traced the absconding manager’s last location to Uttarakhand, following which his mobile phone has remained switched off.
Police are suspecting that he fled to Nepal, along with his Nepalese cook, Rajesh, who is also missing. Before turning off his mobile phone, Sharma called his father on Wednesday to apologise for his mistakes.
Nicked around ₹1 crore in cash
Sources said the bank manager, who hails from Pathankot, allegedly took around ₹1 crore of the depositors’ money in cash, in connivance with the cashier.
Bank officials told police that available cash in the branch was much lower than that reflected in cash entries. “Record of cash being deposited by customers was maintained in the register or online, but was much higher than the cash available at the branch. He took around ₹1 crore in cash in this manner,” said an investigator.
Cashier claims he was blackmailed by manager
The branch’s cashier, Sujeet Kumar, 30, who was arrested from the bank on Thursday for suspected collusion with the main accused, claimed during interrogation that the bank manager threatened to give him poor rating in the annual performance review if he didn’t help him. Hence, he was forced to follow his directions.
A native of Himachal Pradesh (HP), Kumar lives on the Panjab University campus in Chandigarh with a relative. He was arrested after bank officials suspected that he was also involved in the multi-crore fraud executed by the bank manager.
He is said to have disclosed to the police that Sharma used to take money deposited by clients with him.
As part of his elaborate plan to conceal the scam, the bank manager made fake accounts in the names of his father, mother and domestic help, and transferred the bank customers’ money there, said police.
The accused cancelled the customers’ fixed deposit plans and changed their phone numbers in their account details so that they don’t receive OTPs or updates regarding deductions from their accounts.
Acting on the complaint of Vikas Sood, the officiating branch head of the said bank, police booked both Kumar and Sharma under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant), 381 (theft by clerk or servant) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at the Mullanpur police station.
Bank officials are still collecting written applications from the complainants to verify the exact amount stolen, before sending their cases to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the stolen money’s retrieval.
Inspector Simranjit Singh, station house officer at the Mullanpur station, said police were on the accused’s trail and will nab him soon.
