Bank manager booked for Rs 4.02 cr embezzlement

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, August 14

In a shocking incident, a sum of Rs 4.02 crore has been embezzled from the Nohradhar branch of HP State Cooperative Bank by its manager who opened fake Kisan Credit Cards to embezzle money, besides defrauding the account holders of their savings.

Following this revelation, the working of Jyoti Prakash, manager of the said branch has come under the scanner. An FIR was registered by the district manager Priyadarshan Pandey with Sangrah police on August 11.

According to the FIR, Jyoti Prakash misused his powers and opened Kisan Credit Cards on fake names and credited a sanctioned amount of Rs 4.02 crore in them, as per initial investigations. This money was transferred into term loan banks own deposit and cash credit limit banks own deposit accounts which were later embezzled and these accounts were closed.

He also embezzled money from the fixed deposit accounts of the account holders which, on inspection, revealed glaring irregularities. Not only had lakhs been withdrawn from several accounts but some customers were taken aback to find their accounts showing negligible balance. Priya Darshan Pandey, however, has assured the customers that they would not suffer monetary loss and stated that it was bank’s loss. He said Jyoti Prakash had been suspended. The actual embezzled amount would be ascertained after a detailed audit, he said.

According to the FIR, an information about some suspicious transactions was communicated to the district manager on August 5 following which the data centre at Shimla was directed to examine the issue on August 8. A detailed examination of the bank accounts revealed that gross irregularities had been committed by the manager Jyoti Prakash. Following this an FIR was lodged on August 11.

Keshav Naik, however, said that though the bank has checks and balances like internal and external audits besides an annual concurrent audit as well as a monthly inspection, it is the laxity of the administration which has landed the bank in this mess today.

Additional SP Sirmaur Yogesh Rolta said the police was probing the various aspects of the case.