ICICI Bank's 'devil may care' attitude lands it in trouble

New Delhi, Jun 24: Irked by ICICI Bank's "callous and devil-may-care attitude", a district consumer court has directed it to pay a compensation of Rs 1.25 lakh to one of its customers against whom it had lodged a criminal case for non-payment of a car loan which he never took.

"How callous a banker can get is well illustrated by this case... It is a classic case where the respondent bank (ICICI) has adopted a devil-may-care attitude," a district consumer forum bench headed by its president Rakesh Kapoor said while asking the bank to pay the damages.

The bench, which also included its members S C Jain and Prem Lata, passed the judgment on a complaint filed by Delhi resident Anil Kumar Arora.

Arora had availed a loan from the ICICI Bank to buy a car, but he was taken aback by the bank's communication about grant of another loan to him for which he had never applied.

He visited the Pitam Pura branch of the ICICI Bank and lodged a complaint in writing stating that he had never applied for a second loan. In his complaint, he suspected a fraud might have been played upon him and the loan might have been approved on the basis of fake documents.

Despite his repeated complaints and visits, the bank refused to listen to him and instead served a legal notice demanding payment or return of the vehicle allegedly purchased from the second loan.

Refusing to listen to his pleas, the bank filed a criminal case against Arora in a magisterial court.

PTI