NEW DELHI : The CBI has filed a charge sheet against 18 people, including an Indian Bank branch manager, in connection with the ？45.40-crore fixed deposit fraud of Chennai Port Trust, officials said on Wednesday.
A Sarmathi Raja, then branch manager of Koyambedu branch of Indian Bank, and 17 other accused have been named in the charge sheet for allegedly cheating Indian Bank by pre-closing term deposit accounts (fixed deposits) standing in the name of Chennai Port Trust, they said.
MORE FROM THIS SECTION See All
Premium Premium How the financial sector is addressing climate change—a ...
Premium Premium India promises help to Nepal in post-pandemic recovery& ...
Premium Premium COP26 leaders agree to end deforestation by 2030
Premium Premium PM Modi launches initiative for developing small island ...
"It was alleged that the accused committed the offence of criminal conspiracy, impersonation, fabrication of false documents, submission of forged documents, criminal misappropriation, criminal breach of trust, fraudulent transactions, etc. and caused wrongful loss of ？45.40 crore (approximately) to the bank," CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.
Chennai Port Trust regularly invested in term deposits for which it had open tenders, which was bagged by the Koyambedu branch of Indian Bank, officials said.
The CBI in its probe found that the accused allegedly exploited the situation of investment of surplus cash available with Chennai Port Trust in the form of term deposits/fixed deposits with the bank for earning interest through limited tender process and also the willingness of the bank to attract investment in the form of term deposits, Joshi said.
"In that process, a total of ？100.57 crore (approximately) was transferred from CPT in five investments against which 45 term deposits of different amounts were created. Out of the total amount invested, ？55.19 crore could be freezed after the detection of the fraud and the remaining ？45.40 crore were swindled by the accused," Joshi said.
Sources in the agency said the siphoned off amount was allegedly invested in properties and money lending business.
Once the deposits were created, the alleged mastermind went to the branch introducing himself as the Deputy Director (Finance) of Chennai Port Trust, where he opened a fake current account in the name of CPT at the branch on the basis of forged documents.
TRENDING STORIES See All
Premium Diwali Muhurat Trading 2021: Timings and other details here
Premium Pratip Chaudhuri arrest extremely unfortunate, says SBI ...
Premium Five penny stocks to watch out for in 2022
Premium Sigachi Industries IPO: GMP, other details to know befo ...
"After the receipt of investment from CPT on every occasion, the bank created term deposit receipts (Bond) against the said investment and the said bond was received by the accused from the bank directly. Instead of delivering the original bond to CPT, the accused made duplicate bonds and submitted the forged bonds to CPT," the CBI had said after registering the FIR in July 2020.
With original bonds in possession, the mastermind accused allegedly approached the bank and pre-closed deposits within days of their creation.
The amount was transferred to fake accounts of CPT created in the bank and further it was transferred to different accounts, they said.
Subscribe to Mint Newsletters
* Enter a valid email
* Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.
Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!!