The bank lost the money through 187 transactions over 3 days in October
Mumbai: Maharashtra nodal cyber police have arrested a garment trader from Kandivli for his alleged involvement in the siphoning off of Rs nearly Rs 14 crore from Central Bank of India over three days last month. The police probe has found that of the 36 bank accounts the money was first sent to, Rs 1 crore was transferred to the account of 49-year-old suspect Mehul Seemaria’s company, Darshan Dresses Pvt Ltd, held in a private bank’s Khar branch. Police said a server of Indian Financial Technology and Allied Services, a wholly owned RBI subsidiary, was hacked and nearly Rs 14 crore was siphoned off from Central Bank of India’s settlement account maintained with RBI through 187 unauthorised RTGS (real-time gross settlement) transactions between Oct 15 and 17 and sent to 36 bank accounts. The bank’s internal team could not trace any of the 187 transactions through its branches, internet or mobile banking channels, or any other banking channel, according to its complaint filed with police. From the 36 accounts, the money was later transferred to 105 more bank accounts.
On being questioned, Seemaria allegedly failed to provide satisfactory answers about the transaction as well as about any accomplices. Police suspect that he used the money to purchase cryptocurrency and are looking into his digital trails to determine if the money was also sent abroad. Police are looking for two more suspects, Vishnu Rathi from Goregaon and Varunraj Narkar from Kandivli, and are also trying to trace other beneficiaries. The bank later clarified that no customer account was affected and that its core banking system remained intact and secure.