CBI busts fake RBI cheques scam

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested seven persons who fraudulently withdrew Rs14.55 crore from the Railway's account, unearthing a racket that used fake RBI cheque books to withdraw public money.

The entire booklet of RBI cheques was printed with the same serial numbers as issued by the Reserve Bank of India to North Eastern Railway at Gorakhpur in western Uttar Pradesh.

However, the fraudsters managed to get their imitation cheques cleared by the banking regulator.

The accounts were opened in Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, Syndicate bank, Axis Bank and the Oriental Bank of Commerce and the amount fraudulently withdrawn was transferred to other banks or individual accounts, CBI said.

The incident came to light when a bank manager in Noida got suspicious of the cheque and reported the matter to the railway ministry.

CBI has not revealed the names of the suspects lest it may hamper investigations. The agency expects this to be the tip of a big racket involving many influential people.

The cheques were found to be reproduction of a cheque scanned from a cheque book issued to the railway zone for issuing provident fund to its employees. The fraudsters had also faked the signatures of the accounts officers, CBI said.

The original cheque book issued to the railway sector was still unused, CBI sources said.

CBI said it is looking for the main people behind the scam with assistance from RBI and officials of the banks concerned to which the cheques were presented for clearance.