Chandigarh: An NRI has filed a complaint against Ribhav Rishi, a manager with IDFC First Bank who has been arrested in connection with a Rs 116-crore scam linked to the Chandigarh municipal corporation, accusing him of embezzling Rs 1 crore from her bank account.The complainant, Taranjit Kaur Bains (77), a resident of Greater London, United Kingdom, lodged the complaint at the SSP public window. She stated that her family owns a house in Sector 21-A, Chandigarh, and she came to the city along with her husband in 2020 to sell the property. During the transaction, they came in contact with the father of the accused.According to the complaint, on the representations made by Ribhav Rishi, they opened NRI accounts at IDFC First Bank’s Sector 22-B branch. Rishi allegedly told them that the bank was offering attractive returns even on savings account balances and persuaded them to keep funds in the accounts.The complainant said she and her husband were in India during March-April 2020 but had to leave due to the Covid pandemic. They visited India briefly in 2023 and, except for this period, remained outside the country.From 2023 to 2024, Ribhav Rishi, along with other bank officials, remained in touch with them and claimed that the bank had certain investment plans and IPO-related opportunities that could generate very high returns. They were allegedly told that funds would be transferred internally from their accounts and that no additional documentation or formalities were required.The complainant said she permitted the officials to manage the funds and was repeatedly assured that the investments were bank-backed and fully secure. In January-February 2025, she asked Rishi to transfer Rs 1 crore from her NRI account to her UK account and close all investments by March 2025. He initially assured her that this would be done by February 28.She alleged that Rishi continued to give false assurances until May 2025. Later, she discovered that money had been transferred to the account of Divya Arora, Rishi’s wife, and to entities such as Capco Fintech Services, with some amounts routed back through other companies.She also received emails from the bank regarding liens and account freezes linked to a complaint lodged on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, which she said indicated unauthorised diversion of her funds.MSID:: 130331760 413 |
