Three held for fraudulent transfer of money in Ghaziabad

Ghaziabad, Jan 6 (IANS) The Ghaziabad police has arrested three persons in connection with the fraudulent transfer of Rs 10 lakh from an automobile firm's account to a jeweller's account, a senior police officer said on Friday.

The State Bank of India branch in Ghaziabad had allegedly transferred the money to the said account through the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems without even obtaining a signed cheque and duly filled form from the applicant.

Accused Virendra Sahu of Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) and Arun Jadon and Ajab Nagar of Loni were arrested near Hindon Air Force station on January 5 night.

Sahu said he was a Master in Business Administration and was formerly employed in a private bank in Lucknow. He left the job and began cheating people. He was booked in two cases of financial fraud in Uttarakhand and Bareilly.

Police have seized a gold chain, four bangles, earrings, four diamond and three gold rings, worth over Rs 8 lakh, Rs 50,000 and an SUV from the accused.

Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar told the media here on Friday that Kotwali Police registered a case after Hindon Automobiles staff complained on January 2 that Rs 9,85,000 from its account had been transferred to the account of RJ Jewellers, Jagat Farm, Greater Noida.

Police investigation revealed that a person masquerading as the account holder called the bank official to order for the transfer of cash. Since the customer was involved in heavy transactions, bank staff allegedly transferred the cash on a mere phone call without following the due procedure.

The SSP said the role of bank officials in the case was under probe.

"Accepting its fault, the bank has since credited the cash back into our account after we lodged a police complaint," Hindon Automobiles owner Y.P. Vasvani said.

Efforts to seek comments from SBI Chief Manager Pawan Jha did not succeed.