Marty's wife loses Rs 11L in ATM card fraud

Ranjana received a cheque of Rs 11,63,572 from the Bihar government, which she deposited with the Mirchaibari branch of State Bank of India in Katihar district on March 15. But when she recently went to withdraw the sum, she, much to her horror, found that Rs 11 lakh had already been withdrawn even though she had never issued any cheque to anyone. The hapless woman was all the more puzzled as she did not even have an ATM card. Nor had she ever applied for the same.

Eventually, she lodged an FIR at Katihar police station charging the bank management with being hand in glove with the accused in fraudulent withdrawal of the money. As a consequence, a case under Section 420 of the IPC was registered against the bank manager.

It was then that the close circuit TV (CCTV), installed at the bank ATM, identified the culprit and helped the police and the SBI crack the case. The perpetrator was Ranjana’s bhaisur (elder brother of her husband) Awadesh Mandal. The SBI, following the deposit of compensation amount, had issued an ATM to Ranjana, which was delivered at her in-law’s place. But, by then, Ranjana had shifted to her parent’s home.

Awadesh and his brother Pankaj Mandal used the ATM card issued to their widowed sister-in-law, and phase-wise withdrew Rs 11 lakh in the last three months. “Both Awadhes and Pankaj, who have confessed to their crime, have been arrested.