State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS), which has recently merged with its parent bank, State bank of India, has come into the picture for being involved in a scam. The Reserve Bank of India has uncovered a scam worth Rs 95.40 crore from the Bhavnagar branch of State Bank of Saurashtra. Head Cashier of the branch, Kirit Purohit is considered to be the culprit and therefore a fraud case has been registered against him. Although currency chest of the bank was handled by both cashier and accountant, there is no report filed against the accountant. The currency chest of the bank was operated jointly by the cashier and the accountant but only the cashier has been held responsible for the cash fraud. The bank authorities have also made Purohit file an affidavit to the police accepting responsibility for the scam. However police has not ruled out the possibility that there may be more people who are involved in the fraud. The market reports mention that an inspection by an RBI vigilance wing has told that the scam started somewhere in the month of April at the Nilam Baug branch and lasted till November 6th, the day when cash was withdrawn from the currency chest of the bank. Cashier, Purohit has been accused of using bank's withdrawal slips illegally as well not crediting the money deposited by a current account holder in the bank. The charge has been put up on him by Anil Mule, Assistant Branch Manager of SBI's Nilam Baug branch. Deputy Superintendent of Police P Bharada said "investigations are on and Purohit has been subjected to interrogation." The police reported that during the period between April and November, Purohit has withdrawn cash worth Rs 82.5 lakh. In addition cash to the tune of Rs 6.60 lakh were taken out through withdrawal slips. He is also been held responsible for not depositing deposits worth Rs 6.3 lakh to the account of current account holder Asian Gems, that has received a receipt for the deposits. The scam was steadily making its way and managed to escape from coming into notice even when the merger between SBS and SBI took place in August. |
