ICICI BM dupes account holder's money worth crores for years
The duped money was withdrawn from some of the unidentified bank accounts of unsuspecting account owners of the Dhariyawad branch in Rajasthan.
image for illustrative purpose
ICICI Bank branch manager cheats depositor's money worth crores for years in Rajasthan to meet targets
A Branch Manager and his aides at ICICI Bank in Rajasthan have duped account holders of crores of money by managing to meet performance targets for years. The money was withdrawn from some of the unidentified bank accounts of unsuspecting account owners of the Dhariyawad branch in Rajasthan’s Pratapgarh district. This was done to build an illusion of opening fresh savings, current, and FD accounts.
But, a Udaipur-based man got to know about the misdeeds and he began to blackmail the branch officials. To keep this under wraps, more money was withdrawn by the bank officials to pay the individual as hush money. Till now, the man has been paid Rs 2.5 crore as a hush amount, confirms Rajasthan police. However, the bank officials say that the paid amount is Rs 2 crore.
The initial inquiries, according to Superintendent of Police Amit Kumar of the Pratapgarh branch of Rajasthan, exposed that the bank officials did the misappropriation acts due to the burden of meeting the business performance targets. The branch manager and his aides used to create overdrafts against FDs and then used the money from those overdrafts to create and open fresh savings, current, and FD accounts.
This method, in banking terms, is known as ‘Entry and Reverse Entry.’ After some days, the newly-opened accounts would get closed and the money would simply rout back to the original bank accounts. This continued for years.
In response to this fraud, an ICICI Bank spokesperson stated that the bank assures that there will be no losses for the customers. He further says that the bank has a zero-tolerance policy towards deceits and the persons involved in such acts. So, the bank officials have been suspended till further investigation by the Rajasthan police.
The Rajasthan police along with the Special Investigation Team (SIT), under the supervision of Bhagchand Meena, are yet to find out from which bank accounts the money was withdrawn. As of now, the suspected bank accounts have been kept frozen until further clarity.
