Bank Manager and Employee Arrested for Embezzling Farmers’ Funds at SBI Branch in Shujalpur

Police arrested a bank manager and a temporary employee on Friday in connection with a case of embezzlement involving farmers’ accounts at the State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Mohammad Kheda, near Shujalpur. The temporary employee, Rahul Bairagi, has been placed under police remand until January 27, while the branch manager, Ashish Arya, has been sent to judicial custody.
The Akodia police received 15 complaints from farmers who reported fraud amounting to around Rs 75 lakh. Based on these complaints, a case was registered against both the bank manager and the temporary employee. In addition, the bank accounts of both accused individuals have been frozen.
According to the complaints, the accused were involved in withdrawing money from farmers’ Kisan Credit Card accounts and not depositing it into the bank. The fraudsters created fake documents to close the accounts and misled the farmers by issuing false slips. The scam came to light when the affected farmers applied for loans at other banks and discovered that their SBI accounts were still active with outstanding balances.
SBI officials from the Regional Office in Dewas launched an investigation after receiving complaints from the farmers. The accused, Ashish Arya (the branch manager) and Rahul Bairagi (the temporary employee), were named in the case. Akodia police registered an FIR based on the complaint filed by a farmer named Ajab Singh.
Rahul Bairagi was arrested in Unhel, while Ashish Arya was detained in Ratlam. After being produced in court, Bairagi was placed under police remand until January 27, while Arya was sent to jail in judicial custody.
Ajab Singh, a farmer from the village of Palsavad, reported that his father’s Kisan Credit Card account was held at the Mohammad Kheda branch. Singh said that the branch manager had told him that the account had been closed after depositing an outstanding amount of Rs 1,27,000. However, the manager claimed he would provide the receipt later due to server issues. The next day, the manager issued a no-dues certificate, but when Singh applied for a loan from another bank, he found out that the SBI loan was still pending.
Similar complaints were filed by other farmers, including Motilal from Ugah village, Anokhilal from Mugod village, Babulal from Phulen village, Mahendra Sodra Bai, Babulal from Phulen, Narayan Singh, Shriram Panwar, and others, who were also victims of this fraud.