The District Crime Branch (DCB) has registered criminal cases against a Manager of Union Bank of India and four women, heading non-governmental organisations, on a charge of swindling a large amount of money by issuing fake loans to members of 103 self-help groups (SHGs) in the district.
Acting on a complaint lodged by Sesa Marikumar, Manager of Sayalkudi branch of the bank, the DCB registered an FIR on Monday against the women and C. Magendiran, who allegedly defrauded the bank to the tune of Rs 1.32 crore when he served as Manager of Sayalkudi branch from August 2008 to April 2013.
DCB Inspector of Police C. Ganapathy said the bank official had been booked under Sections 468, 471, 409, 420 and 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police have also arraigned M. Selvarani (Balaji Trust), Mariya Haster (Udayam Trust), N. Selvarani (Subapriya Social Services Society) and Manimegalai (Megala Trust) as co-accused in the case.
Magendiran connived with the four women, who had links with the SHGs, and defrauded the bank, he said. The accused either distributed loans to the SHGs violating bank norms or distributed fake loans to members of non-existing SHGs, he added.
The fraud came to light recently when bank officials conducted an inspection before Mr. Marikumar took over as Manager of Sayalkudi branch, he said, adding the DCB had sought details of the inspection report to ascertain as to how the accused had swindled and shared the money.
A special team, headed by him and comprising Sub-Inspectors of Police V. Nageswaran, R. Rajagopal and K. Natarajan, had been formed to investigate the case, he said.
Mr. Ganapathy said Magendiran was already facing a criminal case for allegedly defrauding the bank to the tune of Rs 10.80 lakh in connivance with Mariya Haster who had availed herself of loans on behalf of members but never distributed the amount.
The DCB had registered FIR in the case on June 28, 2013, but could not arrest Magendiran as he had obtained anticipatory bail then.
