Citibank exec nabbed for Rs100-cr con job

A Citibank executive has been booked for siphoning off more than Rs100 crore of account-holders' money. Some estimates say the swindle could be as high as Rs400 crore, though the bank did not confirm this.

Shivraj Puri, an executive working in the bank's upmarket Gurgaon branch near Delhi, used a fake Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) letter to dupe customers into putting money into accounts he created in his relatives' names, promising large returns.

Puri is on the run and police have written to bank authorities to seize his account. Citibank said its customers won't be affected. Usually, in such cases, the bank takes responsibility to reimburse defrauded clients.

A Citibank spokesperson said the bank called the authorities after spotting suspicious transactions based on forged documents. ''Identified suspicious transactions have been isolated and we are providing full assistance to the authorities in their investigation. This issue does not impact other accounts, transactions or customers of the bank,'' the spokesperson said.

At least 30 investors had deposited money in the three fraud-linked accounts. The bank is still figuring out how much money has been lost.

"A relationship manager, Puri's job was to open accounts for customers. He opened three in the name of Premnath, Sheila Premnath and Diskha Puri, all his relatives,'' said Dalbir Singh, assistant commissioner of police, Gurgaon.