Pune: A significant case of embezzlement has been reported at the Pandharpur Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Baramati branch, where the branch manager, Amit Pradeep Deshpande, is accused of embezzling ₹9 crore 3 lakh 361 using fraudulent documents.
The case has been filed by Krishnakumar Purushottam Pendal, the manager at the bank’s head office in Pandharpur.
The fraud came to light when Umesh Virde, the CEO of the bank, noticed suspicious transactions during a routine review of the bank's balance sheet.
Upon investigation, it was revealed that Deshpande had misused his authority and created fake documents using the code of cashier-cum-clerk Sadhana Kalantre.
Deshpande allegedly withdrew ₹2 crore 30 lakh from the Suspense Receivable account of the Baramati branch without permission and transferred it to an account at Dhanwantari Nagari Sahakari Patsanstha, an institution he had opened himself.
Additionally, he took ₹31 lakh from the Bank of Baroda and misappropriated the funds. He is also accused of opening five fake OTDTR accounts in the name of Dhanwantari Patsanstha and using ₹3 crore 23 lakh 71 thousand 897 from those accounts for personal purposes.
Further investigations revealed that Deshpande replaced the genuine gold jewelry pawned by 83 customers with fake jewelry. He took the authentic gold to external finance companies and used it as collateral to secure loans.
In a further act of fraud, Deshpande opened fake accounts in the names of 10 customers, forged signatures, and disbursed loans using those accounts while depositing fake gold in the bank. Through these illegal activities, he misappropriated ₹37 lakh 56 thousand 803.
The total embezzled amount comes to ₹9 crore 3 lakh 361. Baramati City Police are continuing their investigation under the leadership of Police Inspector Vilas Nale.
