In Mumbai, 2 housekeeping staffers at bank clean out Rs 1.3 crore from deceased doctor's account

MUMBAI: Two contractual housekeeping staffers at a nationalised bank's Goregaon branch are at the centre of a massive fraud where nearly Rs 1.3 crore has been unauthorisedly transferred out of the bank account of a deceased doctor from Kolkata.

Goregaon police have arrested one of the staffers, Mohammad Altamash, and an estate agent, Parvez Shah, who was among the beneficiaries of the defrauded sum.They are on lookout for the other staffer Dilshad Khan.
In July 2021, the bank's fraud monitoring cell found that nearly Rs 1.3 crore had been transferred out of the account of Dr Hirendra Pal via netbanking and phone banking into the accounts of 11 different beneficiaries.
An internal inquiry found that a request for KYC updation and change of mobile number for Pal's account was received on June 7, 2021, at the Goregaon branch. Copies of his PAN and Aadhaar cards were submitted as documentary proof. A request for activating netbanking and phone banking was also made. Both requests were approved. Two days later, one more request was received for change of mobile number in Pal's account. Once it was approved, Rs 91.4 lakh was transferred to the accounts of different beneficiaries. "Pal had been granted overdraft facility by the bank, which enables an account holder to withdraw money even if they have no balance. Using mobile banking, nearly Rs 37.7 lakh was transferred out of his overdraft accounts," a police officer said.
When yet another request for changing the mobile number for Pal's account was received, the Goregaon branch enquired with their Kolkata office. They learnt that Pal had died in 2014. "The copies of his PAN and Aadhaar cards submitted for KYC updation were forged. The housekeeping staffers had accomplices on the outside," said investigating officer Sudarshan Patil.
The bank management checked the CCTV footage at the Goregaon branch. Khan was found using employees' computers around the same time that requests for change of mobile numbers in Pal's account were received. He was also seen talking to a few employees. The management enq-uired with the employees who said they had changed Pal's mobile number only on the basis of documents received.
A complaint was made to Maharashtra Cyber in January 2022, and forwarded to Goregaon police who registered an FIR in March. Khan and Altamash stopped reporting for work when the fraud came to light. "We arrested Altama-sh on Tuesday," said senior inspector Dattatrey Thopte. Th-ey also arrested Shah, a beneficiary of a majority of the defrauded sum. Police will also examine if any bank employees are involved in the fraud.