Bank Official, Who Stole Crores From FDs And Invested In Stocks, Suspended

NDTV

8 hours ago

An ICICI Bank relationship manager, who allegedly stole Rs 4.58 crore from customer accounts, has been suspended. She has been accused of stealing the money to invest in the stock market, only to incur huge losses.
Sakshi Gupta, who worked at the bank's DCM branch in Kota, Rajasthan, misused the 'User Fixed Deposit' link to illegally withdraw money from over 110 accounts belonging to 41 customers between 2020 and 2023. Police said she was arrested on May 31 and sent to judicial custody.
An ICICI Bank spokesperson said an FIR had been filed against Ms Gupta, reported news agency PTI.
'The interests of our customers are of paramount importance to us. Immediately upon discovering the fraudulent activity, we filed an FIR with the police,' the bank official said.
Reiterating its stance against fraud, the bank added, "We have a zero-tolerance policy against any fraudulent activity and thus suspended the employee involved. We would like to reassure that genuine claims of impacted customers have been settled.'
The matter came to light when a customer reached the bank to inquire about his fixed deposit (FD). Branch manager Tarun Dadich filed a complaint against Ms Gupta at the Udhyog Nagar Police Station on February 18.
Ramlal Suman, an ICICI Bank customer, said that over Rs 10 lakh had gone missing from his account. He said that customers were stressed after the scam came to light since the bank was regarded as a safe place to deposit money.
Mr Suman added, "I met Sakshi Gupta several times when I used to go to the branch. She used to enter details in the bank diary with a pen instead of a machine. This continued for three to four months, and I didn't receive any messages related to transactions on my mobile phone as well. The new bank manager told me that I was a victim of fraud. But a few months ago, I realised that something was wrong when I came to get my bank statements. I mentioned this to the bank, and the manager explained the whole scam to me, assuring me that my money would be returned."
Sub-Inspector Ibrahim Khan explained how Ms Gupta shifted funds to different accounts. In some cases, the transfer was made using an elderly woman's account as a "pool account."
"She linked the phone numbers of her family members to these accounts and withdrew more than Rs 4 crore. She even devised a system that she used to get the OTPs on her system so that the account holders don't get a whiff of the fraud," the investigating officer told NDTV.
Ibrahim Khan alleged that Ms Gupta had misused debit cards, OTPs and PINs for the transactions. She had also activated overdraft facilities on 40 accounts without the consent of the customers.
She prematurely closed fixed deposits of 31 accounts, swindling over Rs 1.34 crore, police said.
Many of the transactions were conducted using kiosk installations and digital platforms, according to the police. At least four customers' debit cards were used for internet banking and ATM transactions. The proceeds were sent to demat accounts as an attempt to cover up the scam.
Ms Gupta was arrested from her parental home in Rawatbhata, Chittorgarh district. She was sent to judicial custody after a one-day remand for interrogation.