NEW DELHI: The Economic Offense Wing of the Delhi Police has filed an FIR against an official of ICICI Bank for allegedly defrauding a businesswoman of Rs 16 crore by siphoning off funds from her accounts.
According to sources, the FIR was lodged on Tuesday. A senior police official stated that about a week ago, the victim, Shveta Sharma, approached the EOW and filed a written complaint. EOW officials carefully examined her complaint before registering the FIR.
Sharma, who had been residing in the USA and Hong Kong with her husband for an extended period, returned to India in 2016.
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Senior police officials were consulted, and finally, an FIR was filed under sections related to cheating, forgery, and using fake documents against the ICICI Bank official. The accused bank official allegedly changed Sharma’s registered phone number to prevent her from receiving SMS notifications of cash withdrawals.
The ICICI Bank official purportedly enticed her with a Fixed Deposit scheme and subsequently diverted her entire amount. Sharma also had interactions with senior bank officials at ICICI. The bank proposed to compensate her with approximately Rs 9.27 crore.
According to the complaint, Sharma initially deposited Rs 13.5 crore for a four-year period from 2019 to 2023. The bank official assured her that upon maturity of the fixed deposit, she would receive Rs 16 crore. However, during this period, the accused bank official allegedly siphoned off her entire deposit by forging documents and her signature.
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Upon discovering the fraud, Sharma decided to report it to the police.
“The bank official provided me with a receipt. I had no inkling that I would be deceived. Additionally, the bank official manipulated my cell number, and I did not receive any SMS notifications,” Sharma told police officials.
Now, EOW officials will gather statements from several ICICI Bank officials to ascertain how the fraud was perpetrated. They will also investigate the potential involvement of other bank officials and external parties.
ICICI Bank has stated that they are cooperating with the investigative agency. Further developments in the matter are ongoing.