Woman withdraws Rs 3.6 lakh from namesake's account

A middle-aged woman has been arrested in Delhi for allegedly using forged signatures to withdraw over Rs 3.5 lakh from the account of her namesake, with whom she also shares the same address, police said on Friday.

The lady complainant, a resident of Vipin Garden in Dwarka's Uttam Nagar, alleged that someone had withdrawn Rs 3.62 lakh from her bank account. The bank had informed her that the transactions were made by cheques and ATM cards, which she never received, a senior officer said.

The woman had applied for a chequebook and an ATM card in February, but she never received any courier from the bank, the police said.

During investigation, it was found that the courier boy had mistakenly delivered the chequebook and the ATM card to another woman, who shared the same name and address, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said.

The accused was arrested earlier this week when she had approached bank, Alphonse said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed that she had shifted to the rented accommodation around one-and-a-half years ago and knew the complainant as they shared same name and address, the police said.

The 49-year-old also knew the signature of the victim, which was in Hindi, and had practised it multiple times after she received the chequebook, the DCP said.

The accused also changed the complaint's mobile number that was attached to her account, the officer said.

Initially, the accused had submitted a cheque of Rs 50,000 through a forged signature. When it got clearance, she did four more withdrawals and also got another passbook, Alphonse said.

With the help of an ATM card, she withdrew around Rs 97,000 and also spent Rs 15,000 on shopping, the police said