Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh: Police have arrested a bank officer accused of a ₹12.03 crore scam at the Punjab National Bank’s Naharbalaganj branch. Vinay Sharma, a resident of Mohalla Tedhi Bazaar Khalwa, was arrested by Police from Chinhat, Lucknow. Police have already arrested and jailed three other accused, including the then branch manager.
Chief Manager, Punjab National Bank, Circle Office, Ayodhya District, Puneet Murtija had filed a report on August 15, 2025. The allegation was that Branch Manager Mahesh Tripathi, eight assistant bank employees, and other associates at Punjab National Bank, Naharbalaganj, had prepared fake and forged documents and opened loan accounts without the permission of the competent authority.
They embezzled Rs 12.03 crore from the bank branch and were found guilty in a departmental inquiry. In Kotwali Nagar, the police registered an FIR against PNB Naharbalaganj Senior Branch Manager Mahesh Tripathi, Officer Vinay Kumar Sharma, Officer Santosh Gupta, Cash BO Yashwant Kumar, PSP Constructions Poonam Singh, Vaibhav Singh, and Samarjeet Singh.
SP Vikas Kumar formed a team under the direction of ASP Vishal Pandey and CO City Jyotishree to arrest the accused. City Inspector-in-Charge Manoj Kumar Singh said the team arrested Vinay Sharma, a resident of Mohalla Tedhi Bazaar Khalwa, from Chinhat, Lucknow on Wednesday. Vinay Sharma already faces 14 cases. SP Vikas Kumar stated that the PNB Circle Office in Ayodhya filed a report for the first time regarding 31 OD accounts in which Vinay Sharma is wanted. So far, 14 cases have already been filed against Vinay Sharma in connection with bank fraud.
The Superintendent of Police (SP) stated that Vinay Sharma was questioned and he revealed that Mahesh Tripathi, the then branch manager of Naharbalaganj Bank, was the mastermind behind the scam. He colluded with co-accused Samarjit Singh to create fake loan accounts.
Approximately ₹89.87 million (89.87 million) was embezzled from 46 customers and ₹39.35 million (39.35 million) was embezzled from 40 Mudra loan accounts. Vinay Sharma handled the first stage of loan approval by entering fake LIC policy numbers into the LENS software. Bank manager Mahesh Tripathi then granted final approval and unauthorizedly transferred the loan funds via cash or account transfer to Samarjit Singh, owner of PSP Construction, and his associates.
Three accused have already been arrested. The Superintendent of Police stated that three people have been arrested in this case so far. More details will be released soon.
