A Mira Road resident lost Rs. 11.92 lakh to a fraud after the amount was fraudulently withdrawn from his savings account in a reputed private sector scheduled banking institution.
Shockingly, three counterfeit cheques were allegedly used to carry out the transactions, which mysteriously went undetected while being cleared by concerned bank officials. The withdrawals were effected on the virtue of three cheques amounting Rs. 3.95 lakh, Rs. 3.98 lakh and Rs.3.99 lakh.
The account holder who was in Dubai when the fraudulent transactions were made, has claimed that the amount had been withdrawn through fake cheques and forged signatures as the he was still in possession of the cheque-leaves bearing the same numbers. However, it is still not clear as to how the serial number of the cheques and account balance was disclosed.
More importantly, it remains unclear as to how the fraudsters managed to pull the crime off by forging the signature of the authorised signatory.
According to the police, an investigation into a case of financial fraud was initiated after a complaint in this context was registered by the manager of the bank having its branch in the Sheetal Nagar area of Mira Road. A case under sections 420, 467,468 and 471 of the IPC has been registered at the Mira Road police station against the yet-to-be identified fraudsters.
Further investigations were underway.
