A routine visit to a bank branch to update a passbook has unravelled an alleged fraud worth Rs 10.24 crore at a Punjab National Bank branch in Greater Noida, with the Central Bureau of Investigation now registering a case after the bank's own complaint described a pattern of unauthorised transactions stretching back about three years.
The victims, many of them farmers who had sold their land for the Jewar airport project, are now looking to the federal agency to establish how their savings disappeared.
The CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch in Ghaziabad registered the first information report on Thursday, October 30, after taking cognisance of a written complaint sent on October 23 by the Chief Manager of the bank's Noida Circle. The case concerns the bank's Sector Pi branch in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
It follows an earlier first information report by Gautam Buddha Nagar police against unidentified bank employees, after multiple farmers who had received compensation from the Uttar Pradesh government for land sold for the construction of Jewar Airport reported that their savings accounts and fixed deposits had been emptied out.
The CBI case names the branch's office assistant, Deepanshi, an account holder, Ashutosh Kumar Pathak, and unknown public and private persons as accused, along with other account holders identified as Pradeep Kumar, Membanti Devi, Priyanka Kumari, Shanti Devi, Shalini and Saroj Devi.
The charges include criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, together with provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Information Technology Act. The complaint was filed by the bank's authorised representative, Chief Manager Ajay Kumar Pandey, based on bank records.
According to the complaint, the fraud came to light when a customer named Sangita, who held a savings account at the Sector Pi branch, visited the branch with her husband and daughter to update her passbook. She found three transactions dated September 16 that had been carried out from her account without her knowledge, and asked to meet the branch head. The branch head was not available.
However, Deepanshi, the accused staff member, immediately met the family and convinced them of the genuineness of the transactions.
The incident was subsequently brought to the notice of the branch head, who questioned Deepanshi. She allegedly claimed that Sangita had spoken to her husband over the telephone and informed him that she had invested in property and transferred the disputed amount to the account of Ashutosh Pathak. That explanation did not hold up under scrutiny.
The vouchers supporting the three disputed transactions were missing and could not be traced in the branch's records, which raised suspicion in the mind of the branch head.
On further questioning, Deepanshi broke down and admitted that the transactions were carried out on the instructions of Pathak, who is known to her, according to the complaint. Pathak also confessed, disclosing the modus operandi and admitting the commission of fraud involving unauthorised debit transactions in customers' accounts by misusing the credentials of branch officials without their consent and knowledge, the complaint states.
Deepanshi further stated that she had destroyed the vouchers relating to the unauthorised debit transactions because no supporting customer instructions or approvals of branch officials were available.
The branch head's verification of Pathak's account revealed the wider pattern. Deepanshi had opened Pathak's account, as per her confession, and there were several transactions to the accounts of Pathak and the other co-accused from the accounts of several customers of the bank. The money was transferred directly to Pathak's account or routed through the accounts of the other accused, or otherwise withdrawn.
All the disputed debit transactions ultimately reached Pathak's account, in what the complaint describes as a well-planned pattern of systematic diversion of customer funds.
A review of system logs, user activity records and transaction details prima facie revealed that multiple unauthorised transactions had been carried out in customer accounts over a substantial period of about three years by Deepanshi through the misuse of core banking solution user IDs belonging to different branch officials.
It is further alleged that mobile transaction alerts associated with certain customer accounts were disabled before the transactions were carried out, thereby delaying detection of the unauthorised debits by the affected customers. That detail helps explain how the alleged fraud could continue for so long without triggering alarm among account holders, many of whom were not checking their accounts daily.
The complaint also describes serious irregularities involving fixed deposit accounts maintained at the branch. In several cases, Pathak and other accused were allegedly added as joint account holders. The repayment account details were subsequently modified, and the fixed deposit receipts were prematurely closed.
The proceeds of the closed deposits were then credited to beneficiary accounts associated with the suspected fraudster. In other words, the alleged scheme did not rely on a single method: it combined unauthorised debits from savings accounts with manipulation of fixed deposit records.
According to the bank, reconciliation of customer-wise transactions is under way. The number of transactions is substantial, and additional affected accounts and beneficiaries may emerge upon detailed scrutiny of records. The exact amount involved is therefore under reconciliation and will be provided separately upon completion of account-wise verification.
As of now, the bank says it has been able to identify unauthorised debits of Rs 10.24 crore from various customer accounts. That figure is the amount identified so far in the CBI complaint, not necessarily the final total, and it differs from larger figures cited in earlier local reporting, which the bank has not confirmed as its own assessed figure.
The human cost is concentrated in Birondi village in Greater Noida, where most of the aggrieved farmers live. Many had saved their life savings from land compensation, with plans to build new houses and arrange their children's marriages. Instead, uncertainty has taken over the village as families wait to learn whether their money will be restored.
The bank said on Thursday that it would honour all genuine claims, and confirmed that it had settled three claims amounting to Rs 43 lakh at the branch. That assurance matters greatly to families whose compensation money represented a once-in-a-lifetime sum.
The complaint also raises an uncomfortable question for the bank itself. Deepanshi, who worked as office assistant and sub-staff, was not authorised under the bank's internal guidelines and delegation matrix to independently carry out the transactions in question.
The manner in which core banking user IDs of various officials were utilised, whether they were shared, obtained or otherwise accessed, and the role of the concerned officials and of all beneficiaries, require detailed investigation, the complaint says. Staff accountability proceedings have been initiated by the bank against erring officials, and a detailed investigation is under process.
The CBI case adds that the accused acted with common intent and conspired to commit an organised financial fraud for illegal gain, causing monetary loss of public money from the custody of the bank through unauthorised debit transactions. The bank, in requesting the investigation, said that misusing the banking platform with ill intent is a serious threat and in violation of the law of the land.
The agency will now have to trace the money trail across beneficiary accounts, establish how credentials were misused, and determine whether other officials or customers were involved.
For customers elsewhere, the case carries a practical lesson that goes beyond one branch. Transaction alerts, passbook updates and fixed deposit receipts are the early warning systems of retail banking, and disabling the first of those removed a layer of protection.
The fact that the alleged fraud surfaced only when one customer physically visited the branch to update a passbook underlines why periodic checks of account statements matter, particularly for accounts holding large, infrequently touched sums such as land compensation.
What happens next will be determined by the CBI investigation and the bank's reconciliation exercise. More affected accounts may emerge, the identified amount may be revised, and the role of each accused person will be tested against documentary evidence and system logs. For the farmers of Greater Noida, however, the immediate question is simpler: when, and in full, will their money come back.
(Reporting based on The Print, Times Now, Daily Pioneer and WION.)