Co-op Bank duped of of Rs 34.70 lakh

Aurangabad (Maharashtra), July 17: Police have arrested two employees, including a loan officer of the Lokvikas Nagri Sahakari Bank, for allegedly duping the bank to the tune of Rs 34.70 lakh.

Both employees were arrested both of them yesterday after registering an offence under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including section 420 (cheating), following a complaint to this effect being lodged by the bank's general manager with the Mukundwadi police recently, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Navin Chandra Reddy said today.

Those arrested are - Prasanna Mansingh Patil (36) and his accomplice Raju Narayan Shinde (50). However, two of their accomplices are still at large.

Prasanna Patil had worked at the bank's Ramnagar branch from May 30 to July 30 last year and had opened the bank accounts of his three friends - Pandit Bhimanna Madhule (Pundaliknagar), Raju Narayan Shinde (Jhalta) and Vithal Babasaheb Kapre (Garkheda) at his branch by allegedly submitting forged documents.

Interstingly, Patil himself became the guarantor of the trio.

He allegedly embezzled Rs 34.70 lakh cash, which he was supposed to deposit at the bank's main branch, and prepared cheques of the amount in the name of the trio and deposited them in their respective accounts.

Later, he made a false entry of the deposition of the cash he had withdrawn.

The embezzlement came to light during the bank's audit held recently and accordingly, the bank initiated its internal inquiry in which they found that the trio had duped the bank to the tune of Rs 34.70 lakh.

Further investigations in the case are on, police added.

UNI