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Police have claimed that the West Bengal State Marketing Board was one of the beneficiaries in the Rs 120-crore fraud reported by the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (WBIDFC).
The WBIDFC detected the fraud last week when officials found that two fixed deposit certificates — Rs 59 crore and Rs 61 crore — from UCO Bank’s Circus Avenue branch were fake.
“We tallied the account number against which the FD certificates were issued and found that it belonged to Pradip Chongdar,” C.K. Mukherjee, general manager (circle head), Calcutta, said.
The police found that Chongdar’s account in the name of SA Enterprises was fictitious, but had over Rs 120 crore in it. The amount was later transferred to several bank accounts.
“The first lot of beneficiaries comprises 25 bank accounts in seven banks. Money was transferred from the account bearing a bogus name. One of the recipients is the state marketing board,” a senior police officer said.
Investigation revealed that the board had made two FDs — Rs 5.01crore and Rs 10.5 crore — with UCO Bank’s Circus Avenue branch on July 16 and September 10 last year.
“The board is under the scanner because money was transferred to its account from SA Enterprises,” the senior officer said.
The police have sought documents relating to Rs 120-crore fraud from the WBIDFC.
The West Bengal State Cooperative Bank on Tuesday lodged a police complaint alleging that it has also been robbed of Rs 40 crore following investment in two FDs with UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.
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