Bengaluru: Bank manager held for diverting Rs 5.7 crore to girlfriend he met on dating app

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The branch manager of the Indian Bank branch in Bengaluru’s Hanumanthanagar was recently arrested for allegedly diverting Rs 5.7 crore to his girlfriend whom he met on a dating app. A complaint was filed by the zonal manager of Indian Bank against the accused, Hari Shankar, and the court sent him to 10-day police custody.
The police have also named Shankar’s colleagues assistant branch manager Kausalya Jerai and clerk Muniraju as suspects in an FIR. According to police sources, the alleged fraud took place between May 13 and 19. During the interrogation, Shankar claimed that he lost the money to cybercriminals who lured him to use a dating application and the police are verifying his claims.
According to the police, a woman customer deposited Rs 1.3 crore in her name as a Fixed Deposit and based on the same, she availed Rs 75 lakh loan against her deposit. The customer submitted the relevant documents but the accused officials allegedly tampered with the documents and used them as security to release Rs 5.7 crore through multiple installments as overdraft.
The bank, which conducted an internal probe, revealed that the funds were diverted to 28 bank accounts of several banks in West Bengal and two accounts in Karnataka in 136 transactions. Shankar allegedly misused two of his colleagues to commit the fraud and as their involvement is yet to be established, they are being questioned.
The probe also revealed that Hari Shankar’s personal money amounting to Rs 12.5 lakh was also transferred to the accounts and later these transactions took place. Indian Bank has been able to freeze a bank account to which Rs 7 lakh was diverted.
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