Manager of private bank in Patiala held for cyber frauds

A manager of a private bank in Patiala was arrested for his alleged involvement in cyber frauds, police said on Monday.

Ashish Kumar, the bank manager, was nabbed from Mandi Gobindgarh, Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police M SM Sidhu said here.

The SSP said Kumar's involvement in cyber fraud came to light during investigation in a case in which Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh's wife and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur was duped of Rs 23 lakh by a scamster.

It was this bank which was being used by the cybercriminals to siphon off money from the victims' accounts, the SSP claimed.

Ashraf Ali, who was earlier arrested in the case of duping the Patiala MP, was appointed as a merchant-cum-distributor by the bank and was assigned with work of opening new accounts.

The operations of the bank were suspended by the Reserve Bank of India for five months last year for not following the right procedures in opening the accounts, SSP said.

He said Ashraf Ali used a machine through which he would open the accounts of individuals in the bank using their biometrics.

The parliamentarian was duped through a mobile phone call when she was in Delhi last month. Ali was arrested from Jharkhand, police said.