Mumbai Crime: Powai police book 2 bank employees for siphoning off Rs 1.19 crore

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The Mumbai Police booked two employees of Bank of Baroda for allegedly siphoning off Rs 1.19 crore in the past 18 months. The incident came to light after Maruti Tiwari, manager of the Powai branch of the bank, filed an FIR stating that five to six suspicious transactions were being detected in a customer's account.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, suspicious transactions were found during a probe conducted by the bank. The transactions were linked to an account opened in the name of Kartik Kshatriya in the Visakhapatnam branch of the bank. A thorough inquiry revealed much more illegitimate transactions.

"Bank's internal inquiry revealed that from July 3, 2019, to February 18, 2021, illegitimate transactions worth Rs 1.19 crore were done from the accounts of various bank customers to the bank account in Visakhapatnam," the FIR stated.

An officer from Powai police station said, "Bank documents mentioned that money was transferred to the account through cheques. But the account holder concerned had never issued the cheques."

The probe revealed the involvement of two bank employees - a scale 1 officer Pawan Tankala and clerk Harshada Bhosale, who were behind the siphoning off of funds. Post which, the bank manager Tiwari approached the police.

The Powai police have booked Tankala and Bhosale under Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by an employee), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating), and 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code. However, no arrests have been made so far.