Rs 120-cr bank fraud kingpin arrested
KOLKATA: Police on Sunday arrested Indrajit Chattopadhyay, the kingpin of the Rs 120-crore bank fraud case, and his henchman Biman Das. The court remanded the duo in police custody till April 28 later in the day. The West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation Ltd (WBIDFC) had alleged Rs 120-crore fraud against a branch manager of UCO Bank's Circus Avenue branch.
Police have so far traced at least 200 bank accounts of Chattopadhyay in 25 different branches. Police suspect that Chowdhury had diverted the fund to these accounts after siphoning the money from the account in the name of Pradip Chongdar.
WBIDFC officials said that the corporation had transferred Rs 59 crore from its Bank of India, College Street branch on August 30, 2012, and deposited it to Circus Avenue branch of UCO Bank. On January 10 this year, Rs 61 crore were further transferred from Indian Bank to the UCO Bank's branch. The corporation obtained two separate fixed deposit certificates from the bank, signed by the branch manager, which later proved to be fake ones.Investigator said that Indrajit Chattopadhyay is a known bank fraudster. Earlier the city police detective department arrested him in 2008 for committing fraud against various banks. He was also wanted by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The police were on the lookout for his wife Rashika, who was a part of the racket. In this case also, police suspected that Rasika Chattopadhyay was his partner in crime.
Chattopadhyay used to live a lavish life. He used to live at an apartment he bough at the upscale South City in the name of his wife. Police suspected that he heavily inveted in the real-estate after siphoning off the WBIDFC fund. He had amazing relationship with bankers and often project himself as senior banker. He was ofeten seen occupying the chairs of senior officials of banks, said an investigator.
The UCO Bank had responded to a tender floated by the WBIDFC for perking their money in fixed deposits with bankers quoting the highest interest rate. Two branches of the UCO Bank - Circus Avenue and Howrah - responded. The Circus Avenue Branch quoted the highest interest rate of 9.65% for a three-year deposit. The WBIDFC perked Rs 59 crore in August and another Rs 61 crore in January, 2013.
In fact, his track record in bank fraud case dated back in in 2006. The economic offence wing of the CBI was hunting for him, as he had been duping various banks since 2006. "Chatterjee had cheated UCO bank and Canara bank with crores of Rupees," said a CBI source. The Kolkata police had received a complaint to this effect from the Karnataka bank in last in December 2007.
In 2008, he deafrauded six banks worth Rs 10 crore by submitting the same deeds of one flat at Syed Amir Ali Avenue as collateral.
Investigation revealed that his wife Rashika was the owner of Ma Karunamoyee Films Ltd, that produced films and serials. Chatterjee was the promoter of a company, Amtech Universal. The duo had produced a Bengali film, Greftar.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Rs-120-cr-bank-fraud-kingpin-arrested/articleshow/19551847.cms
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