PNB staffer, private person held for misusing bank IDs to siphon off Rs 10.24 crore

The CBI arrested a PNB office assistant and a private person over alleged unauthorised customer debits. The case centres on suspected credential misuse spanning nearly three years.CBI arrests PNB staffer, private person in Rs 10.24 crore fraud caseThe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a Punjab National Bank (PNB) office assistant posted at its Pi Sector branch in Greater Noida and a private person in an alleged Rs 10.24 crore bank fraud case. The agency suspects that money was siphoned off from multiple customer accounts through unauthorised debit transactions over nearly three years.The two accused, identified as Deepanshi, an office assistant or sub-staff member at the PNB branch, and private person Ashutosh Kumar Pathak, were arrested on Tuesday, November 3.The CBI registered a case on October 29 following a complaint from PNB alleging that Deepanshi carried out unauthorised debit transactions from various customer accounts in connivance with Pathak and other unidentified persons.The agency has taken transit remand of Pathak from the Special Court of CBI cases in Pune, Maharashtra. The investigation is continuing. HOW THE ALLEGED FRAUD CAME TO LIGHTAccording to the bank's complaint, the alleged fraud came to light on September 16, when an account holder approached the branch head over three suspicious debit transactions in her account.PNB said it subsequently identified unauthorised debits amounting to Rs 10.24 crore from various customer accounts. The money was allegedly siphoned off over the last three years. The bank's complaint, which is now part of the CBI's FIR, said a reconciliation exercise was underway at the branch to establish the exact amount involved in the alleged fraud.When the branch head questioned Deepanshi about the suspicious transactions, she allegedly broke down and admitted that the transactions had been carried out on the instructions of Pathak, an account holder known to her.The complaint quoted her as saying that the transactions were carried out on the instructions of “one of the account holders, Ashutosh Pathak...who is known to her”.CBI SUSPECTS MISUSE OF BANKING CREDENTIALSThe PNB complaint further alleged that a review of system logs, user activity records and transactions had prima facie revealed multiple unauthorised transactions in customer accounts over a substantial period.These transactions were allegedly carried out by misusing core banking solution (CBS) user IDs belonging to different branch officials.The bank alleged that Deepanshi used these credentials to carry out unauthorised debits from customer accounts.FIR INVOKES BNS, CORRUPTION AND IT ACT PROVISIONSThe CBI has named Deepanshi, Pathak and unidentified public and private persons as accused in the case.The FIR invokes various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to criminal conspiracy, breach of trust, cheating, falsification of accounts and criminal misconduct by public servants. It also includes provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Information Technology Act.The agency is continuing its investigation into the alleged fraud and the role of other persons who may have been involved.- Ends