Mumbai: The HDFC Bank informed Bombay High Court on Friday that it has deposited Rs 2.9 crore into the account of Meenakshi Kapuria, a customer whose Rs 3 crore was siphoned off by her relationship manager (RM).
A bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and SG Dige sought response from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on steps it will take to ensure there is no repeat of such an incident.
The HC was hearing Kapuria’s plea, which alleges that relationship manager Payal Kothari broke her fixed deposits worth Rs 3 crore, transferred the amount to fictitious accounts before re-routing it into her own accounts. Kapuria, who filed a police complaint in October, stated she did not receive any SMS or email alerts when the transactions occurred.
HDFC’s counsel Shirish Gupte informed the bench that they deposited Rs 2.9 crore on December 3, the day when the HC had issued notices to the bank and RBI.
The bench appreciated the gesture but said that this should not be a “one off case” and asked the Bank to form a policy to return money in such cases where customers were cheated by RMs.
“She plays a very important role. There is a trust factor between the client and the RM. The trust is there because the Bank has appointed her. Tomorrow it could be your or mine money. It has to be - how this can be curtailed and bank offices are held responsible,” the bench said.
The judges emphasised that they were looking at a larger picture and asked HDFC to frame a policy in this regard. “We want to ensure that whenever such fraud takes place then you will act with such alacrity and act with such benevolence,” the court underlined. It added that
On a court query, Gupte said they suspected something was amiss when Kothari visited the branch during her maternity leave. “We suspected something and started our inquiry. We realised that this cannot be the handiwork of one person,” Gupte said, adding that, as a “gesture” they deposited the money in Kapuria’s account, without prejudice to the bank's rights.
Kapuria’s Advocate Rizwan Siddiqui highlighted that the money was returned “because of the court”. Gupte assured the court that the Bank will continue to cooperate with the police and sought “some breathing time” to “put their house in order”.
The bench asked zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Dikshit Gedam, who appeared before the court virtually on the court’s request, to complete the probe expeditiously. “Did you hear that they (Bank) will cooperate. You (police) can examine their record and speak to employees,” the court told Gedam.
The court directed HDFC to file an affidavit providing details of the steps the bank “intends to take when an account holder is defrauded by an employee of the bank”. It has also directed the RBI to file an affidavit to come up with a policy for all the banks.
