Online gaming: Bank officer charge-sheeted by CBI for embezzling Rs 55 crore bank funds

The CBI has chargesheeted a bank officer and his accomplice whose rapacious appetite for online gaming lured them to allegedly embezzle more than Rs 55 crore from various accounts a major chunk of which was funnelled to virtual betting tables officials said on MondayIn what transpired to be a tale of avarice and subterfuge the CBI alleged that accused officer Bedanshu Shekhar Mishra and his accomplice Shailesh Kumar Jaiswal committed forgery in Punjab amp Sind Bank where Mishra was employed to channel funds from various bank accounts into various betting games online they saidMishra was posted at the North Campus branch of Punjab amp Sind Bank at Khalsa College of Delhi University since June 28 2021 In a statement during bank enquiry Mishra admitted to having used banking IDs of colleagues to make illegal transfers for online gaming purpose the officials saidIn the CBIs scrutiny Mishra was found to have illegally and without any authority encashed 32 fix deposits belonging to Khalsa College maintained at the bank amounting to Rs 4876 crore while also siphoning Rs 674 crore from various Mudra Loan accounts the officials saidDuring the investigation aforesaid original FDRs are said to have been seized from the Principal of Khalsa College Jaswinder Singh out of which 12 FDRs were found to be issued in the name of the Principal SGTB Khalsa College and rest in the name of student fund SGTB Khalsa College the CBI has allegedThe agency also found that Mishra used the official IDs allotted to the officer of Khalsa College Branch for transferring the funds into 29 different bank accountsIt is revealed that no supporting vouchers regarding the aforesaid transfer were available in the record of the bank which confirms that all transactions were executed dishonestly and with mala fide intentions the agency allegedThe bank noticed irregularities forgery siphoning and misappropriation of funds in various accounts such as RTGS Inward Parking Account amongst Deposits Customers primarily of Khalsa CollegeIt is further alleged thatMishra along with unknown person has carried out these unauthorised forgery and fraudulent transactions by using system IDs of other staff members without their authorities the CBI allegedInvestigations showed that Mishra has a penchant for online games such as Monopoly and CrazyTimes offered on the web site Goa247Live registered in Curacao in the Caribbean and managed in India by individuals based in DubaiBetween May 12 and September 14 in 2022 Mishra regularly played online games and transferred the liquidated amount of the said FDR to the tune of Rs 1081 crore in the four accounts provided by the gaming website they saidWhile tracking the website the central probe agency discovered that Dubaibased individuals Rajat Muralidhar Nishanth Rahul Kumar A Rajath and Nishanth were managing it in India they saidAlso Read Prohibitory orders clamped in Karnataka town after Banjara communityThe aforesaid persons namely Rahul Kumar and A Rajath allegedly lured individual current account holders to offer their bank accounts in lieu of commissionThese personal bank accounts were used to accept deposits from the customers of the gaming website the agency charge sheet allegedThe investigation into the scam revealed that Mishra sanctioned and opened 48 Mudra loan accounts during the period from June 2021 to November 2022 they saidMishras alleged accomplice Jaiswal managed eight of these accounts through his relatives and employeesThe proceeds of the loan amount were funnelled into the gaming business site GameKing11 and the rest of the amount was allegedly utilised for illegal purposes other than those for which the loans were sanctionedVoice and text chats on WhatsApp showed that Mishra was in regular contact with accused Jaiswal The contents of these conversations revealed that Jaiswal had asked Mishra to transfer the amount from the Mudra loan accounts to various current accountsIt was discovered that Mishra carried out transactions in Mudra loan accounts on the direction of Jaiswal without any authority from the actual account holdersFraudulent transactions to the tune of Rs 674 crore in seven bank accounts were made on the directions of Jaiswal indicating that Mishra was acting under Jaiswals influence and both played an active role in the conspiracy to illegally transfer public money using fake Mudra accounts and identities they saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever