Five of family held for duping bank of ₹1.22 cr in Patiala

MODUS OPERANDI Accused had key security pins of the bank which helped them make unlimited transactions without being noticed

PATIALA: Police of Friday arrested five persons of a family for duping private bank of ₹1.22 crore in Patiala.

Police have also recovered 1.1kg of gold ornaments and a Mahindra Bolero, allegedly purchased from the duped money, from their possession.

Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said Amarjit Singh, 53, his wife Kuldeep Kaur, 45, their son Gurlal Singh, 23, Amarjit’s sister Narinder Kaur, 50 and her son Karamjit Singh, all residents Rasoolpur Jauran village of Patiala district, were arrested after a thorough probe into a complaint filed by Jana Small Finance Bank Limited two months ago.

“A special investigation team was constituted to carry out the probe. In its complaint, the bank alleged that the accused made numerous transactions through their prepaid ATM cards at different locations,” the SSP said.

It came to light that Kuldeep and her husband were dealing with the bank for past four years. “The bank first issued a prepaid ATM card to Kuldeep and her friend Rajvir Kaur in 2015 with cash withdrawal limit of ₹30,000. The next year, Kuldeep exceeded her and her friend’s card limit to ₹60,000,” the police said.

The SSP said Kuldeep took her friend Rajvir into the loop and took her card for further use. “Kuldeep and her husband Amarjit made 195 illegal transactions of ₹59.05 lakh while they gave Rajvir’s ATM card to Amarjit’s sister Narinder, who along with her son made 443 transactions of ₹62.99 lakh in three months between May and July,” said police.

The SSP said during interrogation, the accused confessed that they were familiar with the bank’s transaction system related to prepaid ATM card. “The accused also said they managed to procure key security pins of the bank, which helped them to do unlimited transactions without being noticed,” the SSP said.

The police also suspect involvement of bank officials in the fraud.

“We recovered 1.1kg of gold ornaments buried in Kuldeep’s house. The accused confessed that they have made digital transactions worth ₹30 lakh at 25 petrol pumps and took cash from them after swiping ATM cards,” the SSP said. The police are also gathering details of petrol pumps involved in the nexus.

A case under Sections 420 (cheating), 465 (for making forged documents), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120B (conspiracy) of the IPC was registered.

POLICE RECOVER 1.1KG GOLD ORNAMENTS, MAHINDRA BOLERO FROM THE ACCUSED POSSESSION