The Hindu : Bank manager arrested

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 19, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Bank manager arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 18 . A branch manager of a private bank has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police for allegedly siphoning off funds by opening accounts in the names of his relatives and friends. He used these accounts only to accommodate his ill-gotten money.

According to the police, the EOW had got a complaint about Baljit Singh, manager of Sarvpriya Vihar Branch of the Oriental Bank of Commerce at Malviya Nagar, who had allegedly opened several accounts and was operating them all by himself. The complaint was lodged by the bank authorities following an internal inquiry.

Baljit was manager from August 1999 to June 2002. He was suspended on June 5, 2002. Later, a case was registered at Malviya Nagar police station on September 24, 2002.

However, Baljit kept evading arrest by constantly shifting his residence. Finally on Tuesday, he was arrested from his younger brother's house at Ashok Vihar in North-West Delhi. He was produced in the court today following which he was remanded to five-day police custody Investigations revealed that Baljit had got at least 10 bank accounts opened in his branch in the name of his friends and relatives.

He had even allowed three loans, worth a total of Rs. 6.1 lakhs, in the name of his wife, Satnam Kaur. As per bank rules, the sanctioning authority does not have the power to grant loans to his family members or himself. The police said these accounts were used to accommodate the illegal money Baljit was making. He even used to sign most of the documents, cheques and vouchers related to these accounts.

Further scrutiny revealed that a major share of the loans issued fraudulently had gone to Chadha Group of Companies, also known as Orion Group of Companies. The company, which deals in automobiles made by Tata and Hyundai companies, were issued Rs. 74.5 lakhs of loans for buying vehicles. But the vehicles were never bought and the money was utilised by Baljit.

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