Saraspur Co-op Bank employees booked for 3 Crore fraud

Ahmedabad: The Crime Branch filed a case of cheating and breach of trust against employees of the Saraspur Cooperative Bank Limited, accusing them of defrauding the bank of Rs 3.04 crore. The complaint named Viral Brahmbhatt and Namrata Patel.

The complaint, filed by the bank’s General Manager Darshak Patel, alleges fraudulent activities conducted by Brahmbhatt, who served as a branch officer at the Gota branch. Following suspicions raised by the board of directors, an investigation was initiated in March 2024, led by Patel and another officer, with assistance from Namrata Patel, the branch manager.

During the investigation, it was found that Brahmbhatt had opened fixed deposit accounts in the names of his father, Bharat, and his wife, Apexa, and subsequently established fixed deposit overdraft (FDOD) accounts for them. Brahmbhatt unlawfully opened FDOD accounts with a Rs 5 lakh limit without adhering to proper procedures and withdrew Rs 4.75 lakh from one of the FDOD accounts. Additionally, it is alleged that Brahmbhatt, potentially with Namrata’s assistance, expanded the limit of these FDOD accounts by using fixed deposits from other depositors as collateral for Bharat and Apexa’s accounts.

It was revealed that Brahmbhatt and Namrata deceived the bank, siphoning off Rs 2.58 crore through his father’s account and an additional Rs 46.23 lakh through his wife’s account, thus defrauding the bank of Rs 3.04 crore. DeshGujarat