Mangaluru: Bank employee sentenced to 4 years in jail for duping retired teacher

Mangaluru: The first additional district and sessions court has sentenced a bank employee to four years in jail for cheating a retired teacher in Mangaluru. The court also levied a fine of Rs 15,000.

Judge R P Ramalinge Gowda sentenced Grace Fernandes, a bank employee for duping a retired teacher, Teresa D’Souza of Rs 5 lakh.

In the years 2006-07 and 2008-09, Teresa had approached Grace Fernandes for help in saving her retirement funds. As Teresa trusted Grace, she relied on her for even making transactions.

Whenever Teresa deposited money into her account, Grace, instead of issuing computerised passbook, used to make the entries by hand. Grace did not credit the amounts into her account and also created fake records and bills.

In 2008, Teresa visited the bank and Grace was absent. Teresa then found that her account balance is only Rs 15,571 instead of Rs 5,46,650 as per the handwritten passbook.  Teresa questioned Grace at their residence and there she was threatened by her husband.

She then filed a complaint at the police station and the bank immediately suspended Grace from its services. Grace has now been sentenced to 4 years in prison and she has also been ordered to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to Teresa D’Souza.