4 months on, 48-year-old man yet to get back Rs 20,000 stolen from account

For the past four months, a 48-year-old Malvani resident has been making rounds of a co-operative bank in the area and the local police station, hoping to get back '20,000, which someone fraudulently stole from his account. However, nothing much has been done in the matter since the day he filed complaints with the bank and the police.

Victim Ravichandra Naik holds up the bank statement, which mentions details about the fraudulent transaction

Ravichandra Naik, who lives with his family in Azmi Nagar, Malvani, had opened an account in a co-operative bank in his son's name. He had saved up money for his children's education and marriage. However, on July 7 someone withdrew '20,000 from his account through an SVB bank ATM in Matunga area.

Naik said, "After dinner I was preparing to sleep when I received two transaction messages from the bank on my phone. It mentioned that '20,000 had been withdrawn in two separate transactions. I was so worried that I couldn't sleep. The following morning I rushed to the bank and informed the authorities concerned. I even got my ATM card blocked."

"The next day when I updated my passbook, I got to know that the money was withdrawn from an SVB bank ATM in Matunga. I immediately filed a written complaint with the bank as well as the Malvani police. I have been following up with them since then, but no action has been taken yet. Recently when I approached the police, they said that the officer who was investigating the case has been transferred and hence, I need to make a fresh complaint. Nobody is helping me in getting back the money," he added.

Speaking to mid-day, C C D'Sa, manager of the co-operative bank, said, "Our IT cell is looking into the matter. We had asked SVB bank to provide CCTV footages of the ATM where the fraud happened, but they said that the camera was not working at that time."