CBI books 6 bank staff for swindling Rs 4.56 crore

New Delhi: The CBI has booked six officials of the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) in Vijaywada and Guntur for allegedly misappropriating Rs 4.56 crore from the accounts of a state government scheme providing cashless treatment to police personnel, officials said on Friday.

The agency also carried out searches at various places located in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in connection with the case, they said.

"It was alleged that the secretary, Arogya Bhadratha was maintaining savings accounts with Indian Overseas Bank, Mangalagiri branch in Guntur district and having four deposits of Rs 90 lakh each and another account with deposit of Rs 68.84 lakh, totalling Rs 4.28 crore," CBI spokesperson R C Joshi said.

The accused officials closed these four accounts without any request from the account holder. "It was further alleged that the proceeds of the four deposit accounts amounting to Rs 3.87 crore and also Rs 68.84 lakh (approximately) in another account in the name of the secretary, Arogya Bhadratha were withdrawn in cash partially on various dates and transferred to unrelated accounts after routing through various banks office accounts and third party accounts," he said.

Bhadratha and Arogya Bhadratha schemes of Andhra Pradesh government provide cashless treatment to police personnel. The agency has booked Heli Veepuri, the then regional resource manager posted at the regional office in Vijaywada and officials at Mangalagiri branch, assistant managers V Suresh, D Narasimha and K Sireesha as well as clerks M Adinarayana Murali and M Praveen Syam.

Veepuri was the branch head between 2016 and 2019 while other officials were posted during the period at different points of time, they said. When contacted, Veepuri did not give any immediate reaction.

Although six officials have been booked, the complaint from the Indian Overseas Bank shows that it was Veepuri who received over Rs 2.64 crore into his accounts while remaining five officials did not receive a single penny from the misappropriated funds in their accounts.

The remaining funds were allegedly transferred to the accounts of seven entities and individuals, the complaint alleged.