Senior bank manager arrested for fraud

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

DINDIGUL, OCTOBER 06, 2018 00:00 IST

Her modus operandi was to identify people seeking credit, say DCB police

A senior bank official of a nationalised bank has been arrested by the District Crime Branch (DCB) for alleged financial misappropriation.

Following a complaint from R. Kumaresan of Seelapadi Post in the district, Superintendent of Police R. Saktivel directed the DCB to register a case.

After registering an FIR, DCB police arrested senior bank manager of Allahabad Bank, K. Sowarna Priya, 37, daughter of Kalyanaraman of Dindigul. The accused, who was earlier manager in the Dindigul branch, came under the bank scanner following complaints of misappropriation and was transferred.

Also included in the FIR were four others: Hariharan, 36, son of Gunasekaran, Raja of Paramakudi, Ramanathapuram district, and Sudindar and Sankaralingam, former and present deputy general managers respectively of the bank’s zonal office in Chennai.

Police said Hariharan and Raja were allegedly found to be acting as ‘front’ persons for Sowarna Priya and helped her in siphoning off funds sanctioned to fictitious borrowers. Sudindar and Sankaralingam served at the zonal office in Chennai when the loans were sanctioned. The bank, through internal inquiries, found that there had been dereliction of duty.

Sowarna Priya’s modus operandi was to identify people seeking credit such as home loans. She received documents submitted as collateral security from prospective borrowers. After asking them to open a savings bank account, she would claim to have forwarded the proposal to higher-ups for approval. However, after some time, she would plead that the loan could not be processed.

After the bank transferred Sowarna Priya and posted a new manager in her place, Mr. Kumaresan, the complainant, received a notice from the bank for default. Shocked, he approached the new manager and explained and the fraud came to light.

Actually, Mr. Kumaresan got a business loan and he was making the EMI payment diligently. However, he never applied for a home loan of Rs. 25 lakh sanctioned in his name for construction of a dwelling in Kodaikanal. Sowarna Priya had allegedly sanctioned the home loan and siphoned off the amount through her friends, Hariharan and Raja.

Police said seven others from Dindigul, Karaikudi and other towns had submitted similar petitions to the SP after receiving default notice from the bank.

Sowarna Priya was produced before Judicial Magistrate II Court, which remanded her to judicial custody. Later, she was sent to Nilakottai sub-jail.

Further investigation is under way.