THE BIG BANK ROBBERY

CROOKS DEFRAUDED BANKS OF Rs 1.38 LAKH CRORE IN 2020-21. SUCH STAGGERING SUMS SWINDLED FROM BANKS EVERY YEAR MOSTLY REMAIN UNRECOVERED. WORSE STILL, THE SCAMS ARE DETECTED MONTHS LATER AND ARRESTS LEAD TO FEW CONVICTIONS

- AMITABH SRIVASTAVA

JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL, the BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Maharajganj in Bihar, was in for a shock in February 2021 when he realised that the Bank of Baroda’s (BOB) branch in Chhapra, in Saran district, had suspended operations of his MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) account. Sigriwal’s aide rushed to the bank branch to enquire and returned with grim news. “The account had been put on hold. Fraudsters had withdrawn Rs 89 lakh from it using cloned cheques. These had been cleared by BOB’s Ahmednagar branch (in Maharashtra) on November 3, 2020,” says Sigriwal.

Sigriwal approached Union home minister Amit Shah, whose ministry flagged the matter at various levels for a thorough investigation, including by the Bihar government. BOB, on its part, had already informed Bidhan Chandra Rai, the district planning officer for Saran and custodian of the MPLADS account, and an FIR had been lodged in November 2020. The economic offences wing (EOW) of the Bihar police took over the case this February, making two arrests. The Maharashtra police also arrested two people. But the swindled funds are yet to be recovered.

Banibrata Biswas, BOB assistant general manager for Muzaffarpur zone, told india today that the scam appeared to be the handiwork of seasoned criminals. “The fraudsters chose November 3 to present the [cloned] cheque at a BOB branch in Maharashtra well aware that the Chhapra branch would be closed because of voting for assembly elections in Bihar,” he said. Biswas informed that the bank has restored the duped funds in the account in accordance with the July 2017 guideline of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that banks have to credit any amount lost in unauthorised/ negligent transactions to the account holder.