State Bureau, Patna. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has started investigation in the case of fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 1 crore 20 lakh from Muzaffarpur-based Punjab National Bank. Earlier on December 11, ED had raided four places in Muzaffarpur. During the investigation, the Directorate team has also seized Rs 83 lakh.
According to information received from ED, this case pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of approximately Rs 1.29 crore from the savings accounts of two persons in the Jawaharlal Road branch of Punjab National Bank (PNB), Muzaffarpur.
Around Rs 1.07 crore was embezzled from the first account in one go, while Rs 22.40 lakh was embezzled from the second account. Earlier the investigation of this case was started by the Muzaffarpur unit of Bihar Police. Two separate FIRs were registered in this case.
Building on the police investigation, the Enforcement Directorate initiated a parallel investigation into the money laundering case, as the case falls under a scheduled offense under the PMLA. During its investigation, ED found the fact that the accused in this case targeted those people who had huge amount of money in their accounts.
The accused then obtained fake SIM cards of the victims using forged identity documents. After this, those numbers were properly linked by going to the bank, so that SMS alerts could be received. The accused then accessed the accounts with the help of internet banking and were successful in withdrawing about Rs 1.29 crore from two bank accounts.
The stolen amount was transferred through transactions in several stages, a large part of which was withdrawn in cash from ATMs in Kolkata and later deposited into various bank accounts using cash deposit machines (CDMs).
During the raid, ED seized several incriminating documents and materials and froze bank accounts worth around Rs 83 lakh linked to the criminals. Further investigation by ED is underway to identify other accused related to this case.