Banker held for duping depositors

TT, Malda, July 29: A zonal manager of the State Bank of India was arrested today for allegedly siphoning around Rs 39 lakh off depositors' accounts and investing the amount in the stock market.

Yasim Mondal, 35, the SBI's zonal manager at its Nalagola branch, has been booked under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or banker) of the Indian Penal Code. A court here remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.

Police picked Mondal up from his house at Bamungola, 40km from Malda, this morning. He is a resident of Mahestala on the outskirts of Calcutta.

According to police sources, Mondal had been posted as the zonal manager at the SBI Nalagola branch for the past two years. "Mondal had withdrawn Rs 3900500 from eight depositors' accounts without their permission using online banking and invested the amount in the stock market. SBI officials in Mumbai and Delhi detected the illegal activities of the zonal manager and the matter was reported to the SBI Calcutta main branch," said a police source.

On Monday, the chief manager of the SBI in Calcutta, Ashim Banerjee, started a departmental inquiry and confirmed the zonal manager's activities. "Banerjee filed a written complaint with Bamungola police yesterday and we arrested him from his rented residence this morning," the police source said.

Neither the police nor the bank officials explained how Mondal had defrauded the account holders.