Gang of ICICI Bank fraudsters busted in Delhi

Five persons, including two ICICI Bank employees, have been arrested by New Delhi's Lodhi Colony police for defrauding several of the bank's customers to the tune of Rs20 lakh by forging their signatures on cheques and other documents.

Two employees of India's largest private bank have been arrested along with their three accomplices. The ICICI employees are 33-year-old Deepak Malik, a branch sales manager with a salary of Rs35,000 a month, and his colleague Ashish Tiwari, an MBA degree-holder and a business banking executive in the same Preet Vihar branch of the bank. Tiwari is just 24 years old.

Their modus operandi was heavily dependent on the forgery skills of Amit Chauhan, a school passer who is said to be the mastermind behind the scheme.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) H G S Dhaliwal explained that Makik and Tiwari would pass confidential client information to the others, who would then procure chequebooks in the names of the customers, using documents forged by Chauhan.

"They would usually target people who have just opened an account. They even deactivated SMS alerts so that you don't get to know when a chequebook has been issued in your name or money has been withdrawn," Dhaliwal told newspersons on Saturday.

About master forger Chauhan, the DCP said, "He used to prepare himself mentally and physically. He used to practice every signature about 500 times to make sure that there was no mistake."

The accused even created fake customer grievance forms to get details about their targets. "The accused would collect the information of bank customers by going to them as bank officials and asking them to fill personal details in a feedback form. They would then use the details to cheat the customer,'' Dhaliwal said.

The police have recovered 13 forged driving licenses, three forged voter ID cards and several other documents used to the carry out the crime. With most Indians notoriously lax about their banking security, this should serve as a wake-up call.