Noida: Money allegedly diverted from customers’ accounts at a Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch in Greater Noida reached six bank accounts in Goa, Mumbai and Jharkhand, police have found in their investigation into alleged embezzlement of Rs 35 crore from the branch. Police have frozen the accounts.The police cybercrime team and PNB’s vigilance team, investigating the alleged fraud, said the money didn’t stay in these accounts and have been routed to others. Investigators suspect that branch employees and the bank manager may have come into contact with a cyberfraud gang and allegedly facilitated the irregularities.So far, 30 account holders from Aichhar, Birondi, Bironda, Kyampur and several other neighbouring villages have submitted complaints at Beta 2 police station. The SHO said 12 fresh complaints were filed on Thursday and all the complaints were being clubbed into an FIR filed earlier under BNS Section 316(5) (criminal breach of trust) against the PNB branch staffers.The FIR was lodged on Wednesday after Shrichand, a resident of Viroondi Chakrasenpur village in Surajpur, alleged that Rs 1.16 crore was embezzled from his FD linked to his account at the Aichhar branch.On Thursday, several account holders staged a protest outside the Aichhar branch, with several claiming that gold and silver jewellery and other valuables have gone missing from lockers too. In some cases, these have been replaced with faux ornaments.Some accused bank officials of altering registered mobile numbers and email IDs before diverting money from fixed deposits (FDs) and savings accounts to ensure that account holders did not receive transaction alerts. Many complainants, most of them farmers who had received land compensation from Noida Authority, said their accounts were completely emptied out by the bank staff.Ajipal, a resident of Birondi village, told TOI that he received compensation after his family’s land was acquired in 2001 and rented a locker at the bank in 2014. He said he learnt of the alleged fraud on Oct 27 and approached the bank for details on a Rs 35.34 lakh fixed deposit (FD) and 18 tolas (approximately 210 grams) of gold and 1 kg of silver jewellery in his locker, but the bank manager did not give a clear response. He alleged that the mobile number and email ID registered against his account did not match his actual contact details and may have been deliberately changed to stop him from receiving alerts about unauthorised transactions.“On Thursday, bank staffers were asking affected customers to submit affidavits detailing the money held in their fixed deposits (FDs) and the gold and silver jewellery kept in their lockers,” Ajipal said. While the process is meant to document their claims, several account holders said they were still awaiting clear answers about the status of their money and jewellery.‘First we lost our land & now our compensation’Santosh, a resident from Birondi village, alleged that Rs 1.3 crore had been deposited in her bank account as land acquisition compensation, of which Rs 1.2 crore had allegedly gone missing. Expressing anguish over the alleged loss, she said her family had already lost its land to acquisition and had deposited the compensation money in the bank with the expectation that it would secure their future. “First, they took our land, and now the bank has taken away our compensation money,” she said.Meanwhile, senior bank officials from Mumbai and Noida, who have been called in to monitor the case, told TOI that audits have been ordered at other branches in Gautam Budh Nagar where land acquisition compensation was deposited over the past two years. Rajesh Bhowmik, the bank’s zonal manager, said a case had been registered with the CBI. Money of three account holders has been credited to their accounts, he said. “…three claims amounting to Rs 43 lakh had been settled as of yesterday (Wednesday). The bank assures its customers that all genuine claims will be honoured,” PNB said in a statement.On Wednesday, PNB suspended the branch manager and four other employees. Bhowmik said the bank will examine each account holder’s case individually before refunding the amounts.“PNB has taken serious cognisance of the complaints regarding alleged financial irregularities involving certain customer fixed/ savings bank deposit accounts at its Greater Noida branch. The matter is being examined on priority, and the bank is extending full cooperation to the authorities concerned and is taking necessary steps to verify the facts, assess the extent of the reported discrepancies and address the concerns of affected customers,” the bank said in a statement.
