Two booked for fake account transactions worth Rs 3.25 crore

Two employees of a private bank were today booked for opening four fake accounts and making transactions allegedly upto a sum of Rs 3.25 crore in a local branch, police said.
A FIR under section 420, 467, 468 and 471 of IPC was registered against two area managers of Axis Bank -- Avish Rathi and Lokesh Yadav-- investigating officer of Malharganj Police Ajay Soni told PTI.
In a joint forgery, the duo allegedly opened four fake saving accounts under the names of Sachin Sharma, Vishal Rathore, Arti Joshi, Pranesh Joshi, and Dinesh Mukati during December 2011 and January 2012, the IO said.

After opening the accounts, both the accused initially deposited cash in fake accounts and then issued Demand Drafts worth Rs 3.25 crore in due course, he said.
Later, the accounts were closed down. The matter came to light recently after one of the customers Pranesh Joshi got a notice for a transaction of Rs one crore by the bank, he said.
Also, Sachin and Vishal lodged a complaint with the Malharganj police and investigations exposed the fraud, Soni said.
One of the Area Managers Avish hailing from Neemuch district of MP, had quit the job last year, while Lokesh is still employed with the bank, the IO said.

When contacted, bank management offered no comments on the issue.