In yet another case of fraud unfolded in a nationalized bank, the police arrested former manager of the bank on charges of fraud worth Rs 1.88 crore.

The manager named P K Samanta has been arrested on charges of fraud done at the Cossipore branch of the bank in West Bengal where he was posted when the fraud took place.

It has been found that he had sanctioned personal loans worth Rs 2,00,000 to Rs 2,50,000 to 35 employees of a NGO there. The total amount thus disbursed as loan figured to Rs 1.88 crore.

"According to documents presented by the head of the NGO, there were 35 people working in the organisation. He had asked for loans for the 35 employees," said an officer of the anti-bank fraud section of the detective department.

Soon after all 35 borrowers started defaulting in payment of EMIs which led the bank officials to suspect something fishy going around. On enquiry it was found that no physical verification of the borrowers was done while sanctioning the loans and most of the borrowers actually did not exist in person and documents were forged.

"The inquiry revealed that the personal loans had been sanctioned without any physical verification. Soon after the inquiry was started, Samanta reportedly quit from his post," the officer added.