Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

ATM card fraud victim gets his money back from bank

By Haramohan Barman

BARPETA, July 9 - Barpeta branch of the State Bank of India has to refund an amount of Rs 1.6 lakh which was siphoned off by miscreants from the account of a customer of the bank. According to information available, miscreants looted the amount in October 2016 last by fraudulent means.

According to the victim, identified as Guruprasad Das, a resident of Bilartarihati here, he was shocked that his account was short of Rs 1.6 lakh when he came to withdraw money on November 3 last year. He immediately informed the matter to the bank authority. But the bank authority was not ready to listen to his complaint and argued that someone from his family had withdrawn the money through his ATM card. Das asserted that his ATM card was not used by anybody since October 24.

Later, the victim came to know that the amount was withdrawn from ATMs at Kalahbhanga, Simlaguri and Barpetaroad Namghar. He lodged an FIR with the police on the same day stating that someone siphoned off money from his bank account on November 3, 2016. Though the police investigated the matter no fruitful result was achieved.

In the meantime, his son Pranabjyoti Das intimated the matter to the higher authorities of the State Bank of India, Reserve Bank of India and even to the Prime Minister�s Office. The PMO, while acknowledging the receipt of the letter, assured to take all steps to recover the money.

The investigation got intensified after the intervention of the PMO. The police identified a masked youth withdrawing money from three different accounts. The mastermind of the crime, Shariful Islam, a resident of Dabaliapara, was arrested on January 27 last from Paltanbazar in Guwahati in this connection. Shariful confessed that he used to withdraw money from several parts of the State by using duplicate ATMs.

All these developments were taken seriously by the SBI higher authorities which took steps to refund the money to the customer. Finally an amount of Rs 1.6 lakh was deposited in the account of Guruprasad Das recently.

Next Story