Con man withdraws ₹3.9 crore from Noida authority’s account using fake ID

The authority has also initiated an inquiry to determine how money was transferred to different accounts from the authority’s account at the Bank of India’s Sector 62 branch

Posing as an accounts officer from the Noida authority’s finance department, a con man allegedly transferred ₹3.90 crore from the authority’s bank account to various other accounts, using a fake identity card, police said on Wednesday.

The matter came to the attention of bank officials only when he tried to transfer ₹9 crore again from the same account, said authority officials, who immediately filed an FIR against the con man at the Sector 58 police station on Tuesday night. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

The matter came to the attention of bank officials only when he tried to transfer ₹9 crore again from the same account, said authority officials, who immediately filed an FIR against the con man at the Sector 58 police station on Tuesday night.

The authority has also initiated an inquiry to determine how money was transferred to different accounts from the authority’s account at the Bank of India’s Sector 62 branch. Additional chief executive officer Manvendra Singh will inquire into the matter and submit a report in 15 days. Additional chief executive officer Prabhash Kumar and chief legal advisor Ravinder Prasad Gupta will be part of this committee, said the authority.

“The authority transferred ₹200 crore to the Bank of India branch in Sector 62 on June 26 from our accounts in HDFC and Indian Bank ( ₹100 crore each) as we wanted to execute a fixed deposit of that amount in Bank of India. On June 30, ₹3.9 crore was transferred from this account to three different accounts after someone, with a fake identity card of an accounts officer, contacted the bank. We came to know about this on Tuesday and the same evening, we filed an FIR. A police inquiry will establish how this con happened,” said Ritu Maheshwari, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

The Noida authority said the Bank of India officials will have to explain whether any bank official colluded in the con. “We have asked additional chief executive officer to collect details of the case and ascertain if any authority or bank staff gave tacit support to the con man. The bank has informed us that the ₹200 crore fixed deposit document, which was provided to the authority, is also a fake,” said Maheshwari.

“Prima facia, it seems that the bank is at fault, because funds cannot be transferred out of a fixed deposit for any purpose. The account in Bank of India was not the authority’s running account -- the funds were put there solely for the purpose of FD. There was also no permission sought from the authority’ to transfer funds,” said Maheshwari.

The CEO further said, “The bank has agreed in writing to return us the ₹200 crore amount without any deduction.”

The police has filed an FIR under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120-B and 409 of the Indian Penal Code, said officers associated with the probe.

“We have filed an FIR on a complaint given by the Noida authority. While ₹3.9 crore was fraudulently transferred out of the authority’s account by a miscreant, the Bank of India successfully stopped the transfer of another ₹9 crore in a second fraudulent transaction. We are figuring out the role of all persons, including the staff of the Noida authority,” said Awasthy, additional deputy commissioner of police.

“We suspect that the con man got hold of the Noida authority’s letter to Bank of India for opening an FD account before it reached the branch. Subsequently, the con man made a fake letter posing as an accounts officer authorised to operate the account on behalf of the Noida authority and approached the bank. He was probably going to transfer the entire ₹200 crore to different accounts, but the bank got alerted and stopped the ₹9 crore transaction and informed the Noida authority,” said Awasthi.

The bank officials from Sector 62 branch could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.