The bank is one of the oldest and largest commercial banks in India, owned and operated by the government of India. Located at South Mumbai’s Ballard Estate, the complainant is the deputy branch manager of the bank
The cheques appeared to be from the account of Sahyod Sevabhavi Sanstha, a Nanded-based NGO. REPRESENTATION PIC/iSTOCK
Unidentified scammers siphoned off Rs 6.3 lakh from a nationalised bank in South Mumbai by using forged cheques allegedly issued in the name of a well-known NGO. The fraud remained undetected for over five years until a recent audit finally brought it to light, prompting the MRA Marg police to register an FIR.
The bank is one of the oldest and largest commercial banks in India, owned and operated by the government of India. Located at South Mumbai’s Ballard Estate, the complainant is the deputy branch manager of the bank. The matter came to light during an internal verification by bank staff, when they reviewed a cheque transaction from February 2020 and discovered discrepancies.
According to the bank, two suspicious cheques were deposited in the branch on February 11, 2020, and these cheques appeared to be from the account of Sahyod Sevabhavi Sanstha, an NGO based in Nanded. While one cheque, R7.7 lakh, bounced due to insufficient funds, the other cleared without raising red flags, transferring R6.3 lakh to an account in Madhya Pradesh. The NGO submitted a formal letter to its home branch in Nanded stating that they had never issued the cheques and the numbers did not belong to their cheque book. They also clarified that their account had been dormant since mid-February 2020.
“Bank officials were shocked to learn that the forged cheques had bypassed standard scrutiny protocols. Someone impersonated the NGO, forged cheque leaves from a dormant account and managed to get away with a large sum,” said a police official.
An FIR was registered by the bank on Wednesday, and a woman named ‘Surekha’, along with two unknown accomplices, has been named as an accused. They have been booked for cheating, forgery, among other offences under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita.
Police officials, based on preliminary investigation, suspect this fraud to be orchestrated by an insider who was working at the bank back in 2020. “Given how the accused knew the technical know-how required to pull off such a scam, it can be an insider, or an insider involved. We are investigating the matter, and multiple leads are being pursued to trace the fraudsters,” said a police officer.
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