Bhubaneswar, Aug. 27: Surendra Behera, a Class-IV employee of Utkal University, was in for a shock when he went to withdraw money from the university branch of State Bank of India today.
Bank officials informed him that his balance was a mere Rs 486 as a withdrawal of Rs 3.61 lakh had been made from the account on August 9. Behera had no clue about the transaction.
Behera alleged that money had been fraudulently withdrawn from his account. As his words got around thick and fast, his colleagues gathered in the bank and demanded a probe into the matter.
As tension gripped the bank premises, Saheed Nagar police had to rush to the spot. The employees alleged that this was not the first case of its kind.
Yesterday, one Umamani Sahu, another Class-IV employee, had complained to the bank authorities that cash worth Rs 1.44 lakh had been withdrawn from her account without her knowledge.
M.K. Panda, another employee of the university, said several persons had been the victim of such frauds. “Several others have lost money in this way. Forged signatures have been used to withdraw money,” Panda said.
Behera, who is due to retire next month, had been saving money for his daughter’s marriage. He said that when he enquired about the withdrawal, bank officials informed him that money had been withdrawn from his account five times on August 9 and a total of Rs 3.61 lakhs had been withdrawn.
“I could not understand how someone could forge my signature and the bank officials could not detect it. I suspect their involvement in this,” he said.
Bank officials, however, claimed innocence. “We are checking the signatures. We have also informed higher authorities and begun an internal enquiry,” said Ashok Kumar Mishra, State Bank of India, Utkal University branch’s manager, adding that it would take some time to come out with a result of the enquiry.
Police said that they were yet to get a complaint. “We have not received any complaint either from the employees or the bank authorities. We sent our personnel to the spot after getting information about the law and order situation on the bank premises,” said Alok Jena, the inspector in-charge of Saheed Nagar police station.He said the bank authorities were conducting an enquiry into the allegations.
