Panchkula cops nab Punjab banker for Rs 82L fraud
The Panchkula police have arrested a bank manager, based in Muktsar, Punjab, for allegedly having links with a fraudster who was involved in duping a Panchkula resident of Rs 82 lakh. The arrested individual has been identified as Preetinder, who worked as a manager at the HDFC bank’s branch in Rupana village, Muktsar.
Officials of the Panchkula police said they received a complaint on October 22 from a retired Major General, a resident of Sector 20, stating that he had been duped of Rs 82.27 lakh online. The fraudsters had called him, posing as IPS officers, and put him under a ‘digital arrest’ after accusing him of money laundering.
Sukhwinder Singh, the investigating officer from the cyber crime police station, said: “The scammers directed the Panchkula resident to deposit money in a Surat-based account. The amount, transferred by the victim, was then transferred to 70 different bank accounts the same day, including an account in the name of Suman Rani at the HDFC branch in Rupana village. The funds deposited in the account were encashed through three different cheques the same day, too. Therefore, we collected the CCTV footage of the bank.”
Singh said an individual identified as Mukesh, who had also been arrested, had encashed the money from the account. “Meanwhile, Suman Rani, in whose name the bank account had been created, upon her arrest claimed that she had never visited the bank and that she was paid Rs 5,000 to open the account. We have arrested her and sent her to judicial remand,” he said.
He added that the police had found out that five different bank accounts had been opened fraudulently at the HDFC branch in Rupana village and that funds related to different online frauds from across the country had been encashed at that branch.
The police official said the manager had been arrested for encashing money to Mukesh.
He said, “We have collected the bank manager’s call details and arrested Mukesh and found that they were in touch regularly.” Police officials said they were investigating the case to reveal the money trail and arrest others involved in the crime.
