Hyderabad: The CBI today conducted searches
at a nationalised bank and simultaneously raided some places
in Visakhapatnam city in connection with a case of fraudulent
transfer of Rs 353 crore into a current account.
CBI officials picked up three bank officials, who were
being questioned for their role in transferring the amount,
even as the prime accused managed to flee, officials said.
The prime accused Pothina Nageswara Rao in collusion with
J Soren, the then manager of the UCO Bank branch at Dwarka
Nagar in Visakhapatnam and two other bank employees opened a
current account in which Rs 353 crore were transferred on
March 23 this year, they said.
However, the bank funds were immediately reverted after
the fraudulent transaction came into light.
The current account in the name of M/s Pothina Tech
Constructions was opened at the UCO Bank on March 15 after
Nageswara developed friendship with Soren and sought his
cooperation in transferring a huge fund from the bank accounts
into the current account, they said.
Though, Soren initially refused to do it, he reportedly
under threat from Nageswara transferred a sum of Rs 353.61
crore from the bank`s suspense account into the current
account of M/s Pothina Tech Constructions through a cheque of
another bank, a CBI official said.
"Nageswara wanted a bank statement that could reflect a
huge bank balance in the name of his firm at least for three
days. It is not clear whether he wanted to commit any fraud
with this fund," the official said, adding that Soren abused
the password of the chief manager also (without his knowledge)
while debiting the amount.
Meanwhile, a senior official of UCO bank at the Zonal
Headquarters in Hyderabad detected this transaction and after
inquiring into the matter placed Soren and the chief manager
under suspension.
After conducting an internal inquiry, the bank approached
the CBI last week.
The CBI has registered a case under IPC Section 120B
(criminal conspiracy), Section 420 (cheating) Section 467
(forgery of valuable security) Section 468 (forgery for
purpose of cheating) Section 471 (using as genuine a forged
document or electronic record) Section 477A (falsification of
accounts) and Section 511 (punishment for attempting to commit
offences).
PTI
