Bank official, whose income rose by 13,485%, under CBI radar

A whopping 13,485% rise in income in two years has put a Telangana bank official under the CBI radar.

Investigators claimed that the official amassed "disproportionate" wealth by withdrawing around Rs 11 crore using fake house loan accounts and investing in stock market.

Pedasetty Durga Prasad, a field officer of Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank, has been named in an FIR registered on May 31 after the CBI received a tip-off about his suspected corrupt practices while working in Insrapur branch in Sangareddy district since 2016. Prasad could not be contacted for comments.

The CBI claimed that Prasad has "misappropriated and withdrawn funds to the tune of Rs 11.11 crore by creating fake housing loan accounts in the name of existing borrowers without their knowledge and subsequently transferred the amount to his personal accounts" maintained with Kotak Bank and HDFC Bank.

According to the FIR, the accused was in possession of "exorbitant income" of Rs 11.46 crore between 2016 and 2017, which is "disproportionate" to his known sources of income.

While the balance in his Grammena Bank account showed just Rs 33,072 as on January 1, 2016, his accounts in other banks and mutual funds showed Rs 44.12 lakh at the end of August 31, 2017. During this period, his salary earning was only Rs 8.5 lakh.

During investigations, it came to light that his wife, who is an assistant manager in Bank of Baroda's Hyderabad branch, and his father-in-law, a retired postal assistant, were running the household expenses, while he allegedly invested Rs 11.11 crore he illegally withdrew in the stock market.

Calculations showed that he amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs 11.46 crore during this period.

Prasad has now been booked under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.