Alwar bank: Five held in Rs 16 crore co-operative bank fraud

“Delhi resident Abhishek Joshi, in connivance with the then Chairman Omprakash Saini and CEO Mahesh Mudgal, took ‘control’ of the bank administration after paying them Rs 1 crore as bribe in June this year. Flouting the eligibility criteria and through fake documents, Abhishek got his brother Mridul Joshi made the Chairman of the bank, while his relatives, including his father, became the directors,” said Dinesh M N, Inspector General, SOG.

“During investigation, we found that Abhishek opened 92 fake accounts and took a loan of Rs 9 lakh through each of them, adding up to Rs 8.28 crore. Additionally, Rs 4.75 crore were withdrawn from AUCB’s accounts in State Bank, for which there were no records in AUCB. Then, Rs 2.11 crore were sent through real-time gross settlement (RTGS) in various accounts. And whenever some bank officials opposed, they were threatened,” Dinesh said.

“When demonetisation was announced, the bank was given Rs 1.38 crore in new currency by the RBI. However, Abhishek Joshi exchanged his own old currency worth Rs 97 lakh at the bank,” he said.

Those arrested by the SOG include former chairman Omprakash Saini, 65, CEO Mahesh Mudgal, 54, alleged mastermind of the plot Abhishek Joshi, 28, his brother and bank chairman Mridul Joshi, 25, and their father and bank director Ashok Joshi, 60. They will be presented in Alwar court Thursday.