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.