Man held for cheating bank of ₹95 lakh

NEWDELHI: A 32-year-old man was arrested for allegedly cheating a private bank of ₹95 lakh by opening multiple accounts in the name of employees of his bogus companies and obtaining loans and credit cards, police said on Saturday.

Police said Sanjeet Kumar, a native of Vaishali in Bihar, was arrested from south Delhi’s Madanpur Khadar area on Tuesday following investigation into a cheating case registered at the Sarita Vihar police station based on a complaint filed by a bank. Kumar holds a BSC degree from Patna University, officials added.

His two associates – Bittu Kumar and Karan Singh – are absconding, police said.

Police said the three men opened two bogus companies and then obtained photocopies of Aadhaar cards using their contacts at mobile phone shops and photographs of random persons from social networking sites. They created a list of fake employees and used the names of people whose Aadhaar card photocopies were available with them.

“The three men used the Aadhaar details and photos to create forged Aadhaar cards of their fake employees. These forged documents were then used to open accounts in the bank. To make it appear genuine, they deposited money in the accounts as the employees’ salary for a few months. They later withdrew the money,” said Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast).

According to the police, since each account holder had sepa- rate IDS and mobile numbers, the bank offered them credit cards and loans, which the three got issued.

“The loans were transferred into the accounts. They transferred the money in other accounts and withdrew it. They used the credit cards for shopping. Altogether, they duped the bank of around ₹95 lakh,” said an investigator, adding they are suspecting the role of a bank employee.

Interrogation of Kumar, the officer said, revealed that they had opened two more bogus companies and 16 bank accounts in a nationalised bank in order to dupe the bank.