Bengaluru: City police have arrested a manager working with Axis Bank (Hesaraghatta branch) in northwest Bengaluru and two of his associates on charges of duping a businessman of Rs 2.6 crore.The accused — manager Vinod Kumar, Arun, and Kiran — have been taken into police custody for further questioning. According to police, the gang duped businessman Subramanya BT, a resident of Manjunath Nagar, Peenya, who runs a logistics and manpower business. His financial transactions are made with Axis Bank, Hesaraghatta Road, where he has an account. As per his complaint, Vinod, posing like a businessman named Rahul, contacted him through a WhatsApp call in Nov last.“The caller said he ran a few logistics and construction companies. From then on, he would call me regularly and discuss business. One day, he offered a business proposal, saying he could generate business worth Rs 30 crore for me through his logistics and construction activities. I had to pay him an advance commission of 10%,” Subramanya stated.In fact, at one stage of the conversation, Subramanya thought the voice on the other end sounded similar to that of branch manager Vinod. “I didn’t think much of it, dismissing the idea that Vinod would contact me using another name. Meanwhile, I made an online transaction of Rs 2.1 crore to Rahul’s account between Nov and Feb. I transferred Rs 54 lakh to another account mentioned by Rahul in the same period. Both accounts were with the Hesaraghatta branch,” Subramanya’s complaint read.After receiving the money, Rahul became unreachable and stopped answering calls, prompting the complainant to realise he had been cheated.An investigating officer said: “Preliminary investigation revealed that Rs 2.6 crore was transferred to an account, in the name of Mallikarjun. Also, the companies that Vinod claimed ownership of are run by Mallikarjun. Vinod used Mallikarjun’s details to dupe Subramanya. We have to question Vinod further about the possible involvement of others in the crime.”
