SBI employee’s copy-paste error leads to Rs 1.5 crore being transferred to wrong accounts

An SBI employee's 'copy-paste' error proved to be a costly mistake. (Representative Image)

A clerical error from a State Bank of India employee led to Rs 1.50 crore being transferred to the wrong beneficiaries. According to a report in The Hindu, the unnamed SBI employee’s copy-paste mistake saw funds for the Dalit Bandhu scheme being accidentally deposited into the accounts of 15 employees of Lotus Hospitals.

Each Lotus Hospitals employee received Rs 10 lakh in their salary account. The funds were meant for the Telangana government’s Dalit Bandhu welfare scheme.

The Saifabad police in Hyderabad said that an employee of the SBI Rangareddy District Collectorate branch accidentally transferred Rs 1.50 crore to the wrong accounts on April 24.

Of the 15 people who received Rs 10 lakh in their accounts, 14 returned the money while one person, a lab technician named Mahesh, failed to send it back.

“Soon after realising the mistake, the bank officials called the employees and asked them to transfer back the amount. While 14 employees reverted the money, lab technician Mahesh failed to send back the money, as he was not available over phone,” a senior official was quoted as saying by The Hindu.

Mahesh wrongly assumed that Rs 10 lakh had been deposited in his account under some government scheme and used some of the money to clear previous debts. “Despite repeated requests, he was not returning the money. As a result, on Wednesday, the bank official lodged a complaint, and a case under Section 403 of IPC was registered against Mahesh,” the officer said.

Ironically, while Saifabad police registered a case against the accidental beneficiary, no case was registered against the SBI employee whose mistake led to the whole confusion.

Mahesh has returned Rs 6.70 lakh but still owes the bank Rs 3.30 lakh.

“A copy-paste error by the bank employee has led to such a big fuss,” the officer added.