How 'clerical mistake' made Punjab taxi driver a billionaire, for a day

Chandigarh: A taxi driver in Punjab became a billionaire this month, albeit for a day or so, giving him a shock of his life but forcing bank and income tax authorities to launch a probe.

Taxi driver Balwinder Singh of Barnala town was shocked out of his wits when an SMS on his mobile phone informed him crediting of over Rs 9,800 crore in his Jan Dhan Yojana account at the S.D. College branch of the State Bank of Patiala dated November 4.

A perplexed Balwinder approached the bank, who got the money debited from his account the next day. The bank officials also kept his old passbook and handed over a new one without the wrong entry after three days.

Balwinder, who said he usually had a balance of around Rs 3,000 in his account, said: "I was shocked to see the huge figure. I did not even know how much money it was." 

The income tax authorities launched an investigation to see if an attempt was made by someone to covert the black money into white after the November demonetisation. 

The Barnala district administration too questioned the bank authorities regarding the wrong entry. Barnala town is around 175 km from state capital Chandigarh.

Bank officials are tightlipped, though bank insiders say it was a clerical mistake.

"The 11-digit account number, by mistake, got fed into the amount column and led to this situation," bank Manager Sandeep Garg said.