KOCHI: In a bizarre incident, an unidentified person stole two cheques from the Vyttila branch of a nationalised bank and later encashed them at another branch of the same bank at Marine Drive. Police have started a probe into the incident and attempts are being made to identify and nab the accused.
The incident took place on September 30 around 11 am when a person who appeared to be a migrant worker reached the Vyttila branch of the bank. He reached the bank on the pretext of depositing money. Before leaving the bank, he allegedly stole two cheques kept at a service counter of the branch.
“The cheques were submitted by two private firms in Vyttila. One cheque was of Rs 1 lakh and another was of Rs 1,500,” a police officer said.
Interestingly, after tampering with the name section of the cheques, the accused presented them at the Marine Drive branch of the same bank after a few hours. “The next day, the amount was encashed by the accused. Later, the money was transferred to the account of a person named Swarankali Ghosal,” he said.
The incident came to light when people who had submitted cheques at the Vyttila branch found that no money had been credited to their bank accounts. Upon complaining, bank officials checked the transaction based on the ID numbers of the cheques and realised the fraud. The bank authorities approached Maradu police seeking a probe into the incident.
“We have registered a case for theft, forgery and using forged documents as genuine. Based on CCTV footage from the bank, we are attempting to identify the accused. Also, details are being collected about the bank account of the persons and the account to which the stolen money was transferred. Similarly, we suspect the accused used some electronic device to tamper with the cheques. We are looking for similar incidents reported in the state before.” the officer said.
In November 2022, a north Indian gang stole cheques from cheque drop boxes at the ATM counters in Kochi and attempted to encash them at a branch. However, the alert bank officials refused to process the cheque and informed the police. There have also been incidents of cloned cheques used for swindling money.
“Such frauds are mostly involving gangs from north Indian states. We are checking whether any such gang has arrived in Kochi,” he said.