Mumbai Crime: Actor Pankaj Kapur's driver's bank account hacked

Ramprakash Singh

For the last few months, Bollywood actor Pankaj Kapur's driver has been running from pillar to post to find an answer to mysterious transactions that have been occurring from his bank account. If that isn't enough, Ramprakash Ganga Singh is yet to figure how his hard-earned savings of Rs 40,000 disappeared from the kitty. A resident of Anand Nagar in Jogeshwari West for 30 years, Singh, a native of Bihar, has a savings account in State Bank of India's Versova branch.

Singh claims that his troubles first began in June, when he visited his hometown in Bihar. While he was away, someone allegedly withdrew R40,000 from his account, without his knowledge. He only learnt of it, when he returned to Mumbai a few days later and visited a nearby ATM to withdraw cash. "I found that the account had zero balance," Singh recalled. "I immediately went to the branch to get a copy of the statement."

Veteran actor Pankaj Kapur

He realized that six other transactions - both deposits and withdrawals - had been made using the same account. And, despite his mobile number being linked with the account, he had not received any alerts. "When I enquired with the bank manager, he told me that it wasn't the bank's responsibility," Singh said.

Singh then gave a written application to the bank to close his account. He was handed an acknowledgment copy of the application (dated July 29). "I thought closing the account would solve the problems," he said.However, the bank delayed closing his account. Last week, Singh received an alert on his phone, stating that someone had deposited R40,000 in his account. "This time, when I went to the bank, they told me to directly approach the police," he said.

Ramprakash Ganga Singh has alleged that the State Bank of India's Versova branch has refused to offer any information on how his account was hacked. Pic/Satej Shinde

Family being harassed
The baffling twist to this story is that Singh claimed that the money being deposited into his account, belongs neighbours from his hometown. According to him, a few neighbours found money missing from their accounts. When they approached their bank's local branch, the staff informed that the money had been transferred into Singh's account in Mumbai.

"They are now abusing my family, and demanding that they return their money. I am clueless about what's going on," Singh said, adding that he can't be sure if it's a case of hacking or if someone is messing with him. According to Singh's son Sujeet, who works as film editor with Bhojpuri actor Manoj R Pandey, someone assaulted his younger brother and mother back home and threatened to kill them, if their money wasn't returned. Last evening, Singh and Sujeet approached the Versova police station, and filed a written complaint.

After hearing about their ordeal, Bhojpuri actor Manoj R Pandey had approached the SBI's Versova branch, along with Singh, and requested the bank to file a complaint

Speaking to mid-day, Pandey said that after hearing about their ordeal, he visited the branch along with Singh, and requested that the bank file a complaint. "But, they are not willing to offer any help," Pandey claimed.

The other side
When contacted, DS Pal, chief manager of State Bank India from Versova branch, said, "After Singh's application was submitted, the account was not closed due to a server issue. If he had followed up on the status of his application, the account would have been closed quickly. Also, when he approached us with his complaint, I had suggested that he inform the police so that they could investigate whether a staff from the bank or an outsider was involved in the matter." Pal added that the bank has finally closed the account. A senior official from Versova police said that they would need to carry out an investigation before filing an FIR in the case.

Account used as mule?
Prashant Mali, cyber expert lawyer with Bombay high court, said that Singh's looks like "a case of an online bank account being hacked, robbed and used as a mule account. This usually happens when a hacker sees an account lying dormant for some time". Meanwhile, M Rajkumar, former deputy commissioner of police, cyber cell, said that Singh may be a victim of card cloning. "In such a case, one should immediately get a fresh ATM card issued," he said.

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