Two Bank of Baroda officials held for Rs 17.5 crore fraud

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested two employees of the Bank of Baroda (BoB) in connection with a fraud amounting to Rs 17.5crore that took place at the Diwada Colony branch of the bank in Mahisagar district. The employees were remanded to four days in CBI custody on Thursday. 

Those arrested include special assistant Manmohan Singh Meena and joint manager of the branch Satish Kumar Bhaskar. Police suspect involvement of others in he fraud. 

The CBI’s anti-corruption bureau (ACB) at Gandhinagar had registered an offence regarding the fraud on July 23 after a complaint dated July 5 from assistant general manager and regional head of the Godhra region Vivek Shukla. The irregularities had come to light during an internal audit by the bank following which the complaint was filed after suspending three officials, 

The internal audit was conducted after a special assistant Manmohan Singh Meena was transferred from the Diwada Colony branch on February 28. It had come to light that large amount of overdraft balance had remained unadjusted for a considerably long time in a New Inter-branch Settlement Account. 

On inquiring about this, it came to light that there were several suspicious entries that were created by Meena and verified by joint manager of the branch Satish Kumar Bhaskar. These entries were made in the bank’s office accounts, government accounts and accounts of various customers. 

Officials in the bank said that large sums were debited from the bank’s office accounts and government accounts. These were then deposited into other accounts to swindle money. Fraudulent credits were made into the accounts of the Kadana taluka development officer (TDO) and the amounts were transferred from the TDO’s accounts to those of others. The money was eventually withdrawn from a series of accounts.

Interestingly, those whose accounts were credited fraudulently did not raise a complaint or and the money was also withdrawn and used. The bank sees this as a connivance of the account holders in the scam.

The complaint moved by the bank mentions Meena and Bhaskar as the prime accused. Sources said that the CBI investigations could lead to other accused in the case. The bank had also suspended the branch manager Lakhana Oraon after the fraud came to light, but his role in the matter is being investigated.

When contacted, Shukla said that the CBI had informed them about the arrest of the accused. “The entire staff of the branch was transferred after the fraud came to light. We cannot disclose more in wake of the ongoing investigations,” said Shukla.