BENGALURU: A sessions court in the city dismissed an anticipatory bail petition of two officials of a nationalised bank from West Bengal in connection with their alleged role in transferring Rs 96 lakh to multiple accounts of cyber crooks, who had the complainant under digital arrest.
The victim, Vijay Kumar, had transferred Rs 11.83 crore from his two savings bank accounts and had sold his shares to arrange the money.
The petitioners, Senior Manager Rupak Ghosh and another officer Janaki Das, work at Entally Branch of Canara Bank in Kolkata. Accused No. 7, Umashankar Bhattacharya, had opened an account at the branch, allegedly in connivance with the two officers, using false documents, the prosecution alleged.
Umashankar had added two mobile numbers to his account and fraudulently transferred Rs 96 lakh online, it said.
“It is the specific allegation of the prosecution that the petitioners, being the bank senior officers, hand in glove with other accused have created a fake account and transferred lakhs of money and they are actively involved in the commission of the alleged offence of digital fraud,” said Rashmi M, Judge of 67th Additional City Civil and Sessions Court, dismissing the petitions filed in connection with the case registered with the North East CEN Crime police station in the city.
Claiming that they are innocent and have been falsely implicated, the petitioners said until they were alerted, they were not in a position to freeze the transactions.
The court noted that an account was opened in the name of SB INTERIO at the branch to route funds. The application was signed by Bhattacharya as the proprietor and it bears the seal and signatures of the petitioners. But the column pertaining to the proof of address does not mention the complete address and also the application does not contain the Aadhaar number, which shows their active role, the court noted.
On November 11, an unknown person claiming to be from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India told the complainant, Vijay Kumar, over phone that there was a case registered against him in the Mumbai Crime Branch, as several messages and advertisements were delivered from his number.
His SIM card would be blocked as there is also a case registered in Mumbai Colaba Crime Branch as his Aadhaar number was used by an unknown person, Naresh Goyal, to launder Rs 6 crore, the caller told the victim.
Vijay Kumar was told that he would be under digital arrest and asked to download the SKYPE application by sending him various links stating that his case would be heard before the Supreme Court on November 25, 2024, and he could attend the virtual hearing.
He was held in digital arrest from November 11 night till 12, 2024 afternoon, and during that time, he transferred Rs 11.83 crore.