Rs 67.9-crore trail, fake firm, stolen identity lead to bank official’s arrest

New Delhi: A deputy manager of a cooperative bank has been arrested for allegedly facilitating the opening of a bank account that was later used by cyber fraudsters to route nearly Rs 67.9 crore of cheated funds, police have said.Pabitra Kumar Biswal, a resident of Mayur Vihar in east Delhi, was arrested following an investigation into the bank account linked to 159 cyber fraud cases across the country. The account came under scrutiny after it repeatedly surfaced in complaints registered on National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal and investigators found that it was being used to receive and transfer proceeds generated through various cyber frauds.Deputy commissioner of police (east) Rajeev Kumar said that during the analysis of complaints, police identified the suspicious account maintained in the name of Mahakal Enterprises at a cooperative bank branch in New Kondli.“It was purportedly opened by one Shailendra Kumar Yadav. He was traced, but denied having opened the account, visiting the branch, or signing any account-opening documents,” Kumar said. Verification conducted during the investigation established that Yadav was not present at the bank during the relevant period. Further scrutiny revealed that the signatures on the account-opening forms also did not match his signature.Police said Yadav’s identity and credentials were misused to open the account. Attention then turned to officials responsible for processing and approving the application. An examination of bank records revealed that the account-opening process was verified and approved by Biswal. He allegedly admitted that he had neither physically verified the firm nor visited the address mentioned in the account-opening documents.Investigators found that the account was opened in violation of prescribed KYC norms, customer due diligence requirements and mandatory verification procedures. Documentary evidence corroborated these findings and pointed to serious procedural lapses. The account was subsequently used to route Rs 67.9 crore.Police said the investigation indicated that the mandatory safeguards designed to prevent misuse of the banking system were ignored, facilitating the operation of a mule account allegedly used by cyber criminals.Two mobile phones have been seized from Biswal, police said.