Bank duped of Rs 1.45 crore, branch ex-manager booked

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, November 9

The police have booked a Chief Manager of Sarva Haryana Gramin Bank, Rohtak, on the charge of fraudulently sanctioning loans worth Rs1.45 crore and then diverting the amount in the account of his wife.

The accused, Shankar Dev Puri, allegedly committed the fraud from January 2016 to June 2018, when he was posted as the branch manager of the bank in Neoli Kalan village of Hisar district.

The complainant, Vinod Singhal, who is the incumbent manager of the Neoli Kalan branch, said the preliminary inquiry by the bank found that Puri had abused his position to commit the fraud.

“Puri had made fake loan documents and vouchers for transfer payment, and also false entries in loan accounts. He had made wrongful gain to himself, his wife Sangeeta Puri and one of the borrowers Sunil, causing a loss of Rs1.45 crore,” Singhal said.

He said Puri was asked to explain his conduct, but he failed to do so.

On his modus operandi, the complainant said the accused had asked for the photos, ID proofs, residence proofs and signatures on printed forms of three persons on the pretext of opening their Jan Dhan accounts.

The FIR mentioned Puri had sanctioned and disbursed as cash credit hypothecation limit for the purpose of furniture making and other businesses to the persons against their personal guarantee.

He had allegedly sanctioned Rs60-lakh loan on May 24, 2016 to Ajay Kumar, Rs55 lakh on March 3, 2017 to Atul Kumar and Rs30 lakh on October 26, 2017 to Sunil Kumar.

After Puri’s transfer from the branch, in July 2018, the loan accounts were not operated and the sale proceeds were not deposited in the loan accounts and the balance outstanding exceeded their credit limits. When bank officials contacted the “borrowers”, they denied having taken any loan from the bank. They, however, confirmed having opened Jan Dhan accounts at the instance of their relative, Puri.

Fake papers, entries 

• The then branch manager of Haryana Gramin Bank Shankar Dev Puri had made fake loan documents and vouchers for transfer payment, and also false entries in loan accounts. 
• He had made wrongful gain to himself, his wife Sangeeta Puri and one of the borrowers Sunil, causing a loss of Rs 1.45 crore