Chennai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday arrested nine people in connection with a bank fraud involving the preclosure of fixed deposits of Chennai Port Trust (CPT). The accused have been identified as Ganesh Natarajan, V Manimozhi, J Selvakumar alias Selvam, K Zakir Hussain, M Vijay Herald, M Rajesh Singh, S Siyadh, S Afsar, and V Sudalaimuthu alias Annachi.
Based on a complaint from Indian Bank, Chennai, the CBI had registered a case against two individuals, its Koyambedu branch manager, unknown public servants and private entities for allegedly committing fraud, impersonation and cheating the bank to a tune of Rs 100.57 crores. The case was registered on July 31, 2020.
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According to a report in the Times of India, the accused had canvassed the bank and the CPT to open fixed deposits at Indian Bank in Koyambedu. Subsequently, as many as 45 fixed deposits were created between March and May in 2020.
Meanwhile, one of the accused opened a fake current account in the name of CPT at the Koyambedu branch after impersonating himself as the deputy director (finance) of CPT. Whenever CPT made investments, the bank created deposit bonds which in turn were collected by the accused. Instead of delivering it to the CPT, the accused handed over forged bonds to them, the report added.
However, the accused produced the original bonds before the bank’s Koyambedu branch and pre-closed all the deposits one after the other within a few weeks. The money in turn was credited to the fake account before transferring it to 28 different accounts. The credited amount was withdrawn by the account holders and the same was handed over to the accused, according to the report.
The report said that a total of Rs 100.57 crores was invested in 45 fixed deposits. While the bank had managed to freeze Rs 55.19 crores, the remaining amount — Rs 45.40 crores — was swindled by the accused.