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Kochi : The high court has directed the State Bank of India to make good, within four weeks, a loss of Rs 3.73 lakh suffered by a retired teacher after a cyber fraud in 2019, setting aside the banking ombudsman’s order rejecting her claim. The bench further held that her case fell under clause 6(ii) of the RBI circular, attracting zero liability for third-party breach. It noted that she had reported the fraud on the same day and that the police report showed she was not privy to it.
The court held that the bank had failed to cogently establish negligence on the petitioner’s part. Relying on a Gauhati high court judgment upheld by the Supreme Court, the court set aside the ombudsman’s order and directed SBI to pay the amount within four weeks.
The banking ombudsman, however, rejected her complaint, holding that she was privy to the transaction and that her case fell under clause 7(i) of the RBI circular, which deals with customer negligence. Investigation revealed that one Sandip Bauri from West Bengal had used her details to create four Spice Digital wallets and siphoned off the amount. The petitioner immediately complained to the bank’s customer care and later to the branch and Mattannur police.