The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday registered a case against several employees of the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and a few companies for allegedly swindling the bank of ₹90 crore by drawing fraudulent loans last year.
Cases were registered against Bellamkonda Murali Krishna Sharma of Vijayawada, Heli Veepuri, posted as Regional Resource Manager at the IOB Regional Office in Vijayawada, Kandrathi Sireesha and Vuyyala Suresh, posted as Assistant Managers at the IOB Mangalagiri branch in Guntur, and Mothukuri Adinarayana, posted as a clerk at the IOB Mangalagiri branch. The CBI also registered a case against Green Valley Ministries Welfare Association in Visakhapatnam and M/S Bhaktinidhi of Vijayawada.
According to the allegations made by the CBI, Mr. Veepuri opened a current account in September 2019 in the name of Green Valley Ministries Welfare Association at the IOB’s Mellampudi branch in Guntur.
After opening the account, he obtained a cheque from Green Valley Ministries Welfare Association for ₹90 crores, drawn on an account maintained in Punjab National Bank’s MVP Colony branch in Visakhapatnam, and deposited the money on October 24, 2019, at the IOB’s Mangalagiri Branch where he was posted earlier as Branch Manager.
Thereafter, without waiting for the cheque being cleared, he allegedly transferred ₹89 crore to the account of Bhakthinidhi maintained with HDFC’s Vuyyuru branch and ₹1 crore to the savings bank account of Mr. Murali Krishna Sharma, which was maintained with IOB’s Ramavarappadu branch, without any vouchers.
On the same day, Mr. Murali Krishna Sharma, who is the proprietor of M/s Bhakthinidi, approached the IOB’s Ramavarappadu Branch for withdrawal of the amount. However, the amount was not disbursed to him. He then approached HDFC Bank’s Vuyyuru branch for transfer of ₹10 lakh to his savings bank account and the same was transferred.
Searches conducted
It is further alleged that Green Valley Ministries Welfare Association, in cahoots with bank officials, issued the cheque without having sufficient balance in its account. For processing the transactions at IOB’s Mangalagiri Branch, Mr. Veepuri used the log-in IDs and passwords of Ms. Sireesha, Mr. Suresh and Mr. Adinarayana, of IOB’s Mangalagiri Branch, allegedly with their consent.
As per a CBI release, the bank officials conspired with several individuals to cause wrongful loss to the tune of ₹90 crore to IOB and a corresponding wrongful gain to themselves.
After registration of the case, searches were conducted at the office and residential premises of the accused at various places in Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts. During the course of the searches, several incriminating documents were allegedly seized.
