New Delhi, Oct 30 — The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered an FIR in connection with an alleged fraud of Rs 10.24 crore involving customer accounts at a Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Greater Noida, according to sources.
The case pertains to the bank's branch located in Sector Pi, where an internal inquiry reportedly uncovered suspicious transactions and the alleged involvement of a bank employee along with several others.
Preliminary findings suggest that a female employee allegedly used the user IDs and passwords of other bank officials to carry out unauthorized transactions from customers' accounts and transfer funds to accounts linked to her associates.
According to sources, the alleged irregularities remained undetected for nearly three years.
Given the seriousness of the matter, the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch in Ghaziabad registered an FIR on Thursday and has initiated a detailed investigation.
In its complaint, PNB said its preliminary probe had identified unauthorized withdrawals totaling around Rs 10.24 crore from multiple customer accounts.
The bank has alleged that the funds were siphoned off by employee Deepanshi in conspiracy with Ashutosh Pathak, Pradeep Kumar, Membanti Devi, Priyanka Kumari, Shanti Devi, Shalini, Saroj Devi and other unidentified individuals.
The bank has also indicated that the extent of the fraud may increase as verification of all transactions linked to affected customer accounts is still underway.
Authorities are examining the number of beneficiaries and impacted accounts, and the total amount involved could change as the investigation progresses.
As part of its complaint, the bank submitted a list of suspicious fixed deposit (FD) transactions.
The document reportedly contains details of 49 fixed deposits and the transfer of funds following their closure, amounting to Rs 70.23 crore.
However, officials noted that this figure differs from the alleged fraud amount of Rs 10.24 crore mentioned in the complaint, and the exact relationship between the two figures is expected to be examined during the investigation.
The FIR has been registered under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Information Technology Act, and the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused bank employee, Ashutosh Pathak, and other private persons as well as unidentified public servants.
The investigation is currently underway, and officials are expected to scrutinize banking records, transaction trails and beneficiary accounts to ascertain the full scope of the alleged fraud.