Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 14
The Phek Police arrested a State Bank of India (SBI) employee in connection to a fraud case. The employee was accused of defrauding a customer of Rs 10,00,000, which was originally deposited in the SBI’s Pfutsero Branch as a fixed deposit in November 2020. The customer filed a police complaint in March 2023 after the bank branch failed to return the investment along with the accrued interest.
In the investigation that followed, the police arrested one Veluvo Soho, who was posted in the Pfutsero Branch as a “Dealing Clerk” at the time when the customer opened the fixed deposit. It turned out that the amount was never routed to the bank, while the customer was given a fake deposit receipt. “No money was deposited/transferred in the fix deposit account,” stated a press release issued by the Superintendent of Police, Phek, on March 14.
At the time of filing the complaint in March, the accused was posted at another branch in Mokokchung. The release informed the accused was summoned to appear before the Pfutsero Police Station and arrested. It did not specify when the arrest occurred.
As per the case history, the customer had opened a fixed deposit account worth Rs 10,00,000 on November 24, 2020 for a period of one year at the SBI Pfutsero Branch. On “maturity,” she reinvested the principal amount with interest for another year, which amounted to Rs 11,28,053. However, when she went to the bank to withdraw her matured fixed deposit on December 5, 2022, she was told to come back later owing to an alleged “rush” at the bank.
When she returned on January 24, 2023, the bank manager informed her that there was no such fixed deposit account in her name. Despite showing the receipt, the bank failed to resolve the issue, which led to the victim lodging an FIR.
During the enquiry, it was found that the accused clerk, did not deposit or record the amount in the bank’s registry. “All the related documents was obtained and verified. The fake fix deposit receipt was also seized from the victim,” the release said, while adding the accused was remanded to police custody for further investigation.
The statement from the police did not dwell on recompensing the customer. The Assistant General Manager and Regional Manager, Dimapur Region, did not respond to calls made by The Morung Express to get comment on the bank’s policy in such cases and disciplinary proceedings, if any.
Another SBI official maintained that the bank has to make good on the defrauded amount, if it was a case of the bank’s system failing to register the deposit. However, in the said case, the official said that the family of the accused refunded the defrauded amount to the customer. It was not clear when.
