IDBI manager held for alleged misuse of depositors’ money

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: A relationship manager of the IDBI Bank has been arrested for alleged misuse of the fixed deposit accounts of customers in the city. Disclosing this here at a press conference on Sunday, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru Central, Srinivas Gowda said, "A staff of an IDBI has misused Rs 4.92 crore belonging to the customers.

The fixed amount deposits of customers were broken and converted into LIC bonds in different names. The irregularities came to light When one of the customers went to check his bank account and the bank staff had to use other funds to make up for the shortfall," the DCP said.

"Following an audit at the bank, it was revealed that Rs 4.92 crore had been misused. The money is safe in LIC policy bonds, but it was misused to achieve LIC targets and utilise the interest amounts. The money was misused without the customer’s knowledge. According to our investigation, 240 bonds have been created. We have frozen LIC bonds for the time being and we are investigating the matter further”, the senior police official added.

The accused has been identified as Sachila, a native of Kanyakumari, a resident of an area near Hunasamaranahalli in the city. He was employed as a relationship manager at the IDBI Bank’s Mission Road branch in Sampangiram Nagar police station limits, between June 13 and December 31 last year.

An audit revealed that during her employment, the accused had misused Rs 4.92 crore from different accounts belonging to the customers of Sampangiram Nagar and Gandhi Nagar branches of the bank. Soon the bank officials found out the irregularities and initiated an audit after which the fraud came to light. The officials later filed a complaint against Sachila with the jurisdictional police station.

According to police sources, the accused confessed to the crime and revealed that she had misappropriated customers' fixed deposits and bought LIC bonds worth crores of rupees in the name of someone else. She, however, allegedly pocketed the commission earned with the policies.