The number of complainants rose to 25, with police registering a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and an anti-corruption team joining the investigation.
All employees of Punjab National Bank’s (PNB) Accher branch in Greater Noida have been suspended after a group of farmers alleged that more than ₹12 crore was fraudulently transferred from their savings accounts and fixed deposits (FDs), police said on Wednesday.
The complainants alleged that bank employees transferred money from their accounts without their consent. The alleged fraud came to light when account holders approached the branch to withdraw their money.
Ram Vinod Kumar, lead bank manager for Gautam Budh Nagar district, said the transferred amount had been put on hold by PNB’s head office in Delhi and would be returned.
“All staff members, including the branch manager at Accher, have been suspended. The Central Bureau of Investigation has been brought in to probe the fraudulent activity. PNB is also conducting an internal probe,” Kumar said.
On Tuesday, a group of farmers from villages near Accher, close to Sector Pi 1, protested outside the branch, alleging that their savings and land compensation funds had been siphoned off.
Amarpal, a resident of Accher, said he had opened three FDs worth ₹40 lakh, ₹30 lakh and ₹10 lakh in his mother Sunita Devi’s name. He had also deposited around ₹12 lakh in her savings account after receiving compensation for land acquired for the Noida International Airport project.
“After the ₹10 lakh FD matured, I visited the bank on October 22 but was told to return on October 27. Later, I was told that there was no money in my FD,” he said.
Amarpal alleged that the bank statement showed the FDs had been prematurely closed on June 16 and the money transferred. Another ₹10 lakh, he claimed, had also been transferred from his mother’s savings account.