HDFC customer accuses manager of stealing ₹3 crore from her FDs, Bombay HC issues notice – CNBC TV18

An elderly woman has accused Mumbai’s HDFC Bank manager of embezzling crores from her account, taking the matter to the court, which issued a notice to the bank as well as the Reserve Bank of India.

On Tuesday, the Bombay High Court issued the notice after getting to know about the arrest of the bank employee for allegedly siphoning off ₹3 crore from the customer’s fixed deposits. Meenakshi Kapuria, the complainant in her petition, stated that her relationship manager, Payal Kothari, not only broke her FDs worth crores but also transferred the money into her accounts.

After hearing the matter, Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan said, “People trust a particular bank, and a relationship manager takes a person for a ride. What faith will people have now in the banking system?” reported The Times of India.

In her petition filed on Monday, Kapuria detailed the events and shared that the manager transferred the money into some fake accounts and from there into her own accounts. She received no SMS alerts or emails notifying her of the major transfers as Kothari had changed her mobile number and email address in the bank’s address.

Her advocate, Rizwan Siddiquee, also claimed that the manager gained Kapuria’s trust and took blank signed cheques from her, assuring her that the money would be invested in mutual funds, gold bonds and new fund offers.

After the matter came to light, the customer was pressured by the Versova police to settle the case with Kothari, whose bank accounts were also frozen with just ₹30,000 left in all.

Following the bank employee’s arrest on Tuesday morning, the court called out the zonal DCP, Dikshit Gedam, and asked, “Why does an arrest have to be made only after someone comes to the court? And you are asking people to settle the matter?” As the DCP explained that one more arrest might likely take place and that the case would be transferred to a senior officer, he also assured of a departmental inquiry against the officer-in-charge for dereliction of duty.

During the hearing, the court also questioned if the bank was being investigated, to which Kapuria’s advocate referred to an RBI circular. “This is extremely serious. Considering the manner in which the petitioner was cheated,” Justice Mohite-Dere said, further directing HDFC’s senior manager or regional manager in charge and RBI to be impleaded.

The matter has been posted for December 13.