THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as bank fraudster Gabriel Marian Ilie, 27, the Romanian who was held from a hotel in Mumbai on Tuesday evening, was brought here on Thursday and interrogated, a fresh incident of stealing Rs 47,800 from the account of a retired bank official in Thiruvananthapuram through an ATM counter in Mumbai was reported. This has shattered the notion of the police that the members of the Romanian racket except one might have fled the country.
Jyothi Kumar, a resident of Choozhampala near Peroorkada, received messages early on Wednesday regarding three withdrawals from his account in the Ambalamukku branch of the SBT. A sum of Rs 20,000 was withdrawn twice and Rs 7,800 the third time. Mr. Kumar, a retired SBT employee, reported the matter to the bank authorities and on verification it was found that he had also used his ATM at the Althara branch.
With the fresh incident, the police have stepped up the probe in Mumbai to track the one who made the withdrawals. The fresh theft from an SBT account took place even after the SBT stated that all ATM cards that were recently used at SBI’s Althara branch ATM were blocked. A police team led by Mr Manoj Abraham quizzed Gabriel for hours.
The help of a translator was also used. The police have so far received nearly 40
complaints and the total amount lost so far was estimated at Rs. 5 lakh. However, the police are not ruling out the chances of more complaints surfacing in the coming days. The police have initiated steps to issue open warrants against the three Romanians who were suspected to have left the country. The police registered a fresh case against a mobile shop owner of Kovalam, identified as Renjith Kumar, on charges of issuing mobile phone connection to the Romanians.
He maintained that the foreigners had produced copies of travel documents and hence the connection was issued. The police were also checking with the mobile service providers whether the connection was issued after going through the prescribed procedures. ADGP south zone B. Sandhya said she would personally write to all banks to ensure adequate security measures at ATM counters.
