Lucknow: The CBI suspects the involvement of an organised interstate gang, allegedly linked to South India, in a sophisticated bank fraud racket targeting banks in Uttar Pradesh after two accused were arrested for posing as officials of the Uttar Pradesh Forest Corporation and opening a bank account using forged documents.The arrests were made in connection with a Rs 64.82 crore fraud at Bank of India’s Sadar branch in Lucknow. More members of the network — including facilitators, document forgers and possible insiders — are under the scanner.The accused, identified as Deepak Sanjeev Suvarna of Udupi and Deepak Yadava of Mysore, were produced before a special judge (anti-corruption), Lucknow, and remanded to police custody till May 16.Sources said the agency is probing links to organised cyber and financial fraud networks operating across multiple states.According to the FIR registered by the CBI’s anti-corruption branch on Jan 15, 2026, the accused allegedly used forged KYC documents, fake board resolutions and fabricated authorisation letters to open a fraudulent account in the name of UPFC at the bank’s Sadar branch in Dec 2025.Investigators said the accused allegedly convinced bank officials that UPFC was planning a bulk fixed deposit investment and that Suvarna had been authorised to operate the account.Using forged papers, they allegedly induced the bank to transfer Rs 64.82 crore into the fake account for creating fixed deposit receipts (FDRs) purportedly in UPFC’s name.The CBI said between Jan 2 and Jan 5, the accused allegedly siphoned off Rs 6.95 crore via RTGS transfers into six beneficiary firms based in Kolkata and New Delhi.The fraud came to light after UPFC officials contacted the bank on Jan 5, 2026, clarifying that no such account had been authorised and that no employee named Suvarna was associated with the corporation.Investigators suspect the fraud was carefully planned. The agency is also examining the possible role of unknown public servants and bank insiders.
