REASI, Feb 10:
Police have taken cognizance of a major fraud in Pouni Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, in which deposited amount worth more than rupees one crore in dormant accounts was siphoned by an officer of the bank in alleged connivance with then manager.
Even as direct involvement of then Manager of the bank was not established, both of them have been placed under suspension while Police Station Pouni has registered a case FIR in this connection and started further investigation.
According to Police, a case FIR number 10/2024, under section 409 IPC, has been registered at Police Station Pouni against accused namely Ishwinder Singh, Asst Manager, JK Bank Pouni for making fraudulent debits from various inactive/deceased accounts amounting to the tune of Rs 126.34 lacs.
Sources said that modus operandi of the accused officer involved discretely activating the dormant accounts and then illegally withdrawing deposited money. This practice was allegedly going on for the last three years and an amount of Rs 126.34 lakhs was illegally withdrawn by accused Asst Manager Ishwinder Singh, who is a resident of Pouni.
A dormant account is an account that has had no financial activity for a long period of time, except for the posting of interest. After the dormancy period, dormant accounts become the unclaimed property of the state.
The fraud came into notice of the bank after the accused withdrew amount from an already active account following which the account holder lodged a complaint in this regard.
As the J&K Bank head office initiated an internal probe, main accused Ishwinder Singh as well as then Branch Manager A P Singh Tara were placed under suspension. Besides, recovery of a few lakh rupees was also affected from the accused.
Investigation of the case is going on and no arrest was made in this regard so far, sources said.(Courtesy Daily Excelsior)