Senior bank official, lover arrested for cheating senior citizen of Rs 50 lakh

Bengaluru: A senior bank official and her lover are among four people arrested for cheating a senior citizen of Rs 50 lakh, the police said on Sunday. 

The police identified the suspects as Meghana PV, 31, deputy branch manager at IndusInd Bank in Girinagar, her lover Shivaprasad, 35, and two other individuals named Anwar Ghouse and Varadaraj, both 35. 

According to a police complaint filed by a 76-year-old Girinagar resident, Meghana used to assist her in handling the finances as she holds a joint account with her husband in the bank. 

The complainant said that she shared personal details with Meghana as she thought she could trust her. Around Rs 1 crore was credited into the joint bank account following a property sale in January 2025, the FIR said. 

Police investigations showed that Meghana, through subterfuge, made the complainant sign on an RTGS form used to transfer money in the guise of Fixed Deposit (FD) renewal. As a result, Rs 50 lakh from the joint account was credited to the bank account of Ghouse. The complainant’s son discovered this after inquiring with the bank. 

He reported the matter to the national cybercrime helpline 1930. A complaint was filed at the Girinagar police station on March 3 under BNS sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating). 

A Girinagar police team led by sub-inspector Manjunath arrested Meghana from Kerala on March 10, while Shivaprasad was apprehended in Bengaluru. The other two were picked up from Ankola, Uttara Kannada, but claim that they did not know anything about the money. 

"Meghana had transferred the money after claiming that her grandmother urgently needed cash," a police investigator said. 

A court remanded the suspects to judicial custody on March 14.