28-year-old female office assistant committed a big fraud of over Rs 10 crore in PNB

A 28-year-old female office assistant committed a big fraud of over Rs 10 crore in Punjab National Bank Sector-PI branch in Greater Noida. Around ₹35 crore is alleged to have gone missing from customer accounts, although farmers’ unions and local protesters claim that the total amount could be much higher, ranging from ₹130 crore to ₹150 crore. Initially, approximately ₹22 crore was reported missing, but the bank’s complaint lists a fraud of ₹10.24 crore.

Fixed deposits, including funds received as land acquisition compensation for infrastructure projects such as the Noida International Airport, and savings accounts were allegedly prematurely closed, and the money was transferred to other accounts without the customers’ knowledge or consent. Many victims said they had not received any SMS notifications or alerts about the unauthorised transactions.

Who Was Behind the Fraud?

According to the available information, a female subordinate staff member is allegedly involved in the fraud. She reportedly belongs to the same village as many of the customers and knows them well. Her name is Deepanshi. She is a young girl aged 28 years and was hired by the bank in 2021. She works as an Office Assistant in PNB Sector-PI branch.

She allegedly misused the passwords of other staff members to carry out unauthorised transactions and transfer money from customers’ accounts to other accounts. It is alleged that the CBS user IDs of six officials, including Senior Branch Manager Nisha Tirkey, were misused. She transferred funds to Ashutosh Pathak, Pradeep Kumar, Membanti Devi, Priyanka Kumari, Shanti Devi, Shalini, and Saroj Devi. Mobile alerts were turned off for some customers to prevent them from receiving immediate information about withdrawals.

The branch had a staff strength of 8 employees. 4 out of 8 employees were female. The accused, Deepanshi, is a resident of a village near the branch.

The bank’s investigation also revealed irregularities in FDs. It’s alleged that FDs were prematurely closed by adding joint account holders, and the funds were transferred to other accounts.

Whenever a customer visited the branch to withdraw money, she allegedly arranged the required amount by transferring funds into that customer’s account from an account belonging to an alleged accomplice. This method reportedly helped her facilitate customer withdrawals while concealing the alleged fraudulent transactions.

The bank’s chief manager, Ajay Kumar Pandey, filed a complaint on October 23. The CBI has registered a case against Deepanshi, Ashutosh Pathak, and other unidentified individuals under sections of the BNS, IT Act, and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The investigation has been assigned to DSP Dr. Zahir Akhtar. According to the bank, Deepanshi stated in her statement that she knew Ashutosh beforehand and had taken a loan for investment on his advice. The CBI will now investigate how many customers were affected, how much money was withdrawn, and who all played a role in this alleged fraud. The bank has stated that all documents and digital records will be made available for the investigation. Further investigation is expected to establish the full details of the transactions and determine the responsibility of those involved.