In a major financial fraud, miscreants allegedly siphoned off Rs 16.48 crore from the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) account maintained at the Kaman Choumuhani branch of UCO Bank.
Following AMC's complaint, the West Agartala Police Station launched an investigation and arrested a bank cashier, identified as Ramayani Srimoyee, who was remanded to three days of police custody by the court.
Dipak Majumder, Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation, giving insights into the incident, stated that a deposit of Rs 16 crore and 38 lakh had been made in the UCO bank, apart from the Rs 53 crore deposited across the different branches in the city.
"Our Municipal Corporation had a deposit of ₹16 crore 38 lakh in UCO Bank. In total, we had also deposited ₹53 crore, spread across different branches in Agartala. Since it is not possible to keep such large amounts of municipal funds in cash, we keep them in commercial banks -- in fact, in 40 different banks," he said.
He further stated that after the crime was committed, a letter had been given to the bank's Chief Manager, who filed an FIR and initiated an investigation.
"From the Kaman Choumuhani branch of Agartala, hackers withdrew Rs 16 crore and 38 lakh. After that, a letter was given to the bank's Chief Manager, who then filed an FIR and initiated an investigation. Between August 5 and September 2, Rs 16 crore and 38 lakh were withdrawn. The cheques for those amounts are still lying in our office. In this system, even if money has to be withdrawn from the bank, it cannot be done without the signatures of the Commissioner and the Executive Engineer. Later, the bank's manager gave us a letter stating clearly that they would refund the withdrawn amount. Finally, the bank credited the money back into the Municipal Corporation's account," he added.
Rana Chatterjee, Officer-In-Charge (OC), West Agartala PS, said that one accused had been arrested and had been sent to the court with a remand prayer.
"The investigation is going in the right direction. We have already arrested one person, a UCO Bank official, and she has been forwarded to the court with a police remand prayer. The court, after going through the police report, granted three days' police remand. We are interrogating her and expect more clues to emerge."
The officer further stated that evidence collection is underway.
"We are gathering additional material, including digital and forensic evidence. After completing this process, we will be in a position to reflect more on the case. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has already been formed, and this is only the initial stage of the investigation," the officer added.
Further investigation is underway.
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