Hyderabad: A cashier at the Aziznagar branch of the Telangana Grameena Bank (TGB), siphoned off Rs 8.5 crore from depositors' accounts by taking advantage of the illiteracy and lack of knowledge of the depositors.
The Moinabad police has registered a case against bank cashier Madi Jaipal Reddy who is absconding.
One of the victims is Gurrampalli Krishna Yadav, who had deposited around Rs 1.31 crore in the bank after selling five acres of land.
Three days ago, when he went to the bank to withdraw a part of the amount, he found that all the eight accounts in the name of his wife, father and mother had zero balance. That is when the fraud came to light.
Mr Yadav said that whenever he went to collect the interest amount, Mr Jaipal Reddy would pay him and sometimes even came to the Yadavs' home to give them the money. The entries in the passbooks and the FD certificates were all clear.
“As we are illiterate, we never realised what was happening. In 2016, I deposited Rs 20 lakh in a fixed deposit, but got a certificate for Rs 19 lakh. In 2012, I deposited Rs 20 lakh and got a certificate which turned out to be fake. In the first incident, he diverted Rs 1 lakh right at the time of depositing it. We realised that only three days ago,” said Mr Yadav.
Jaipal Reddy, 35, a native of Aziznagar, is well known among the villagers. He got the job in the bank as a clerk on compassionate grounds after his father's death, and became a cash-ier. He could identify every customer by name and gained their trust.
He stole money from their savings accounts by not giving them the deposit slip. He withdrew amounts using forged signatures, transferred funds online into various accounts, and issued fixed deposit bonds or certificates with forged signatures of the manager or without an account number on the certificate.
Customers’ illiteracy turns boon in disguise
Ms G. Kavitha, who had deposited Rs 14 lakh, lost all her money. Many account holders are in deep trouble, as they require money for impending marriages of their kin.
Sarpanch of Nagired-dygudem, Sandhya Manoj Kumar, said at least three marriages are to be held in March and the families are very worried. “We want justice done to them and to all customer who have lost their money,” she said
