Son of former bank employees held for running fake SBI bank branch

Photo used for representational purposes

Three persons were arrested by Tamil Naidu police for running a fake branch of State Bank of India (SBI) in Panruti in Cuddalore district. The plan to run the duplicate branch was hatched by the son of a former bank employee.

According to police, 19-year-old Kamal Babu, whose father passed away a few years ago and his mother is a retired bank employee, came up with this idea.

According to Indian Express, Kamal brought computers, lockers, challans and forged documents to set up the branch through his contacts. Kamal, along with A Kumar (42) and M Manickam (52), opened the branch in April during lockdown. They also created website in the name of the Panruti Bazaar branch.

However, the branch came under radar after one bank account holder enquired about this new branch with his branch manager. The manager and other officials visited the fake branch and were shocked to see that the set up was similar to an original bank branch.

They lodged a police complaint, following which the trio were arrested. They have been booked under Sectionss 473, 469, 484, 109 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"Babu's parents are former SBI bank employees. From an early age, he had been visiting the bank and had learnt how a branch functions. His father died a few years ago and his mother had retired. After his father's death, he had applied for his post. He got frustrated after his application was delayed and hence decided to open a bank by himself," Panurti Inspector Ambedkar was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

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