BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Sunday arrested three persons including former woman employee of ICICI Bank Swagatika Swain (28), for their alleged involvement in a fraud of Rs 1.04 crore.
The other two accused are Swain’s husband Manoj Kumar Sahoo (29) and the then ICICI Bank Dhenkanal branch deputy manager Prasant Kumar Sahoo. Swain had joined the bank in 2017 and was later posted as a relationship manager in Dhenkanal. She was entrusted with the responsibility of providing doorstep services to elite customers of the bank.
Swain with the help of her husband mostly targeted elderly people who were not tech-savvy and unaware of online banking services. After developing a camaraderie with the customers, Swain collected their personal details. As she had access to the banking system, she changed the registered mobile phone numbers of around a dozen customers without their knowledge.
The accused took advantage of Covid-19 lockdown and carried out fraudulent transactions between February 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. Crime Branch officers suspect even the bank’s manager had connived with them.
As per an internal probe carried out by ICICI Bank, transactions were carried out in the form of unauthorised overdrafts against fixed deposits, pre-closure of fixed deposits, fake investments in mutual funds and misappropriation of premium amounts related to ICICI Prudential life insurance policies.
So far, 11 victims have been identified and the bank suo-motu reimbursed their money amounting to Rs 87.54 lakh. Sahoo, who was earlier running his father’s crusher unit but is unemployed now, had invested the ill-gotten amount with a money lender in connivance with Swain. Dhenkanal Town police station had earlier registered three cases against Swain and her associates for committing similar financial frauds.
The regional head of ICICI Bank’s financial crime prevention group had lodged a complaint regarding unauthorised transactions from different accounts basing on which Crime Branch had registered a case in December, 2023. The accused were absconding since then.