Agri Mktg Board, Bank officials steal Rs 48 crore; six held

Bengaluru: A sum of Rs 48 crore, belonging to Karnataka State Agricultural Marketing Board (KSAMB) has been stolen by corrupt officials in KSAMB and Syndicate Bank. The Central Crime Branch has arrested six people in the case.

The arrested are Jayaram, assistant manager at Syndicate Bank’s Uttarahalli branch, Siddagangaiah, deputy general manager at KSAMB and four others. Police have formed three teams to nab four more accused. The teams are already in northern India and Chennai.

KSAMB had transferred Rs 100 crore to Syndicate Bank for opening two fixed deposit (FD) accounts of Rs 50 crore each. Later KSAMB Managing Director Kari Gowda found that there was only one FD of Rs 52 crore, while the other FD certificates issued to him was false one.

CCB began an investigation and found that the remainder Rs 48 crore was transferred to more than 60 bank accounts, most of them in Chennai. The money was withdrawn from those accounts.

While the bank official Jayaram was involved in issuing the false certificate, others were involved in transferring the money.