Jailed bank officer’s wife arrested in Prayagraj

MANSI HAD BEEN EVADING ARREST SINCE JULY LAST YEAR WHEN HER HUSBAND WAS ARRESTED FOR SIPHONING OFF FUNDS FROM BANK

PRAYAGRAJ : Mansi Pandey, the wife of Kotak Mahindra Bank officer Anshuman Dubey who was jailed last year in a Rs 9.46 crore embezzlement case, was arrested from Civil Lines in Prayagraj for allegedly conniving with her husband in misappropriation of funds among other charges.

Mansi had been evading arrest since July last year when her husband was arrested for siphoning off funds from Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Civil Lines branch in Sangam city, police said on Sunday. She has been sent to jail and further probe is underway.

During questioning after her arrest in the past two days, she confessed to have known her husband’s complicity in the embezzlement and having wilfully spent the illegal proceeds for buying a residential property and jewellery, a police officer said on condition of anonymity. Some other information provided by her was now being probed, he added.

Mansi’s husband Anshuman Dubey, a service delivery officer (SDO) with Kotak Mahindra Bank’s Civil Lines branch, was arrested for conniving with at least 11 others, including the branch manager, for siphoning off Rs 9.46 crore within a-yearand-a-half before a police complaint was lodged against him on April 5, 2020, station house officer (SHO), Civil Lines police station, Ravindra Pratap Singh said. The complaint alleged that Dubey had embezzled bank’s funds he was responsible for depositing with Bank of Baroda’s Khuldabad branch in Prayagraj since Kotak Mahindra didn’t have a currency chest in the city. During investigation, it also emerged that Dubey used to lend money at high interest rates.

Singh added that police investigations revealed involvement of around a dozen people in the embezzlement, following which, Anshuman Dubey, his landlord Kamalraj Sachdeva, former bank manager Matambar Pandey, Pinku Tiwari, Praveen Kumar Dubey and Ajay Sharma were arrested on July 3, 2020.

The police also managed to recover Rs 1.02 crore in cash, jewellery worth Rs 70 lakh and luxury vehicles worth Rs 25 lakh from the accused. However, Anshuman’s wife Mansi Pandey could not be arrested then, the SHO said.

After her arrest, the police have found that Mansi’s bank accounts in Punjab National

Bank, HDFC, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra received huge deposits during the period of embezzlement which were withdrawn later. It also emerged her account in Kotak Mahindra bank had over Rs 1.27 crore deposited in it and Rs 1.25 crore withdrawn from it.

During investigation, she revealed that she originally hailed from Ranjeet Colony of Basti district and was staying with her husband on rent at the house of Kamalraj Sachdeva in Attarsuiya locality.