₹99.48 Lakh Scholarship For 118 Students Siphoned Off From Nationalised Bank In Bhopal: CBI

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against seven people associated with a nationalised bank and a management academy in Bhopal for allegedly withdrawing the scholarship amount of 118 students without their consent.

Prema Verma, the then senior manager of the bank branch, allegedly supported the institute authorities in carrying out the irregularities. The irregularities allegedly took place between January 2020 and January 2021.

A complaint was received from Lokesh Kumar, deputy general manager (DGM) and zonal head of a nationalised bank in Bhopal, alleging misconduct by bank officials of the Habibganj branch. As many as 118 fraudulent bank accounts were opened at the branch in the names of various persons, and government scholarship funds worth Rs 99.48 lakh were credited to these accounts.

After the preliminary investigation, it was found that the savings accounts had been opened in the names of 118 MBA students of the Academy of Management, Bhopal, without their knowledge or consent.

The scholarship amount granted by the government was then credited to these accounts and allegedly misappropriated by the accused.

The enquiry revealed the prima facie role of Vinay Malhotra, Aditya Malhotra, Manoj Jain, Ram Singh Verma and Vinesh Meshram. associated with the management academy, in hatching the conspiracy.

The management allegedly linked its own mobile numbers to the accounts, received ATM cards and withdrew the scholarship amount fraudulently.

The enquiry further revealed that the Account Opening Forms (AOFs) were filled using forged signatures and false particulars without mandatory KYC verification. Bona fide certificates, purportedly is-

sued by the college, they were used as supporting documents and were found to be fabricated during scrutiny.

ATM/debit cards were allegedly issued and delivered to Ram Singh without written authorisation from the actual account holders.

Mobile numbers belonging to the accused college auth- orities and their associates were allegedly linked to the students' accounts, enabling receipt of OTPs and immediate withdrawal of the scholarship amount on the same day it was credited.

Verma, the senior manager of the bank branch then. en- trusted with account opening, KYC compliance, system verifi- cation and ATM issuance, alleg-

edly processed the accounts in gross violation of established banking norms in criminal connivance with the college authorities, leading to offences of criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating and criminal misconduct.