Hyderabad Businessman Complains of Identity Theft to Open Bank Account

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has registered a case following a complaint alleging the fraudulent use of identity documents to open a dummy bank account, through which Rs.5.12 crore from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation was allegedly routed.

According to the FIR, the complainant reached out to the EOW on December 4. The victim, a businessman from Kukatpally, stated that his Aadhaar and PAN cards were misused without his consent to open an unauthorised virtual bank account at the RBL Bank, Banjara Hills branch.

The businessman said he learnt of the fraud after receiving a notice from the income-tax department on July 29. The notice stated that a bank account had been opened in the joint name of Volta Technology Solutions and the complainant. As per the notice, an amount of Rs.5.12 crore was credited into this account from the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Ltd, whose account is maintained at Union Bank of India, MG Road branch, Bengaluru.

The complainant asserted that he had no association with Volta Technology Solutions, which he alleged is a fake entity created using his documents, and alleged that forged signatures were used to open the account. He further stated that multiple transactions were conducted through the illicit account.

Based on the information available to him, the complainant named Etakari Satyanarayana, the chairman of First Finance Cooperative Society, Satyanarayana Varma, and Kaki Srinivasa Rao as persons involved in the alleged fraud, and sought legal action against them. Earlier this year, the Enforcement Directorate attached properties worth nearly Rs.5 crore in connection with the case.

According to the ED, the scam had its roots in February 2024, when the Valmiki Corporation’s bank account was transferred from Union Bank of India’s Vasant Nagar branch to the MG Road branch in Bengaluru.

After the account was moved, the ED claimed that Nagendra’s associates exerted pressure to divert significant funds into the account, totaling Rs.187.33 crore between March and May 2024.

The agency’s chargesheet alleged that a portion of the diverted amount was funnelled into 18 fake accounts, which were further layered through various shell entities.

The fraud was exposed when the corporation’s accounts superintendent Chandrasekharan P. was found dead on May 26, 2024. In a note, he alleged the illegal transfer of money from the corporation to various accounts, allegedly belonging to IT companies and a Hyderabad-based cooperative bank.

On June 6, 2024, Karnataka Scheduled Tribes welfare minister B. Nagendra resigned and the ED filed the chargesheet in October 2024.

The ED described Satyanarayana Varma and Etakari Satyanarayana as middlemen who played key roles in laundering funds in Telangana.