SBI fake branch case: Police says accused had personal issues, no ulterior motives

The news item about a teenager, who had allegedly run a fake bank branch from his home in Panruti, Cuddalore district, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has travelled far and wide.

However, the police officers who investigated the case say that the boy was dealing with a lot of personal issues and did not perform the forgery with a sinister motive. So far, the cops haven’t received any complaint of people having been cheated of their money or valuables in this case.

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The investigating officer of the case told WION that the 19-year old accused in this case had a troubled past.

His parents were SBI bank employees, which made him exposewith the banking functions from a very young age as his parents used to take him along to the branch.

The boy’s father who was the then bank manager passed away in 2007 when the boy was barely six years of age. Since then, he was brought up by his mother.

It is said that the young boy had made an attempt to apply for his father’s post on compassionate grounds. His mother had retired from the bank in 2017 and has been suffering from a serious mobility issue. The 19-year old had also failed his class 12 exams.

How the case came to light

There are two SBI branches in Panruti and Venkatesh was the manager of one of them.One customer asked Venkatesh about the third branch functioning in the North Bazaar area and told him that the receipt, withdrawal slip, and seal (of the new branch) are available.

Shocked by knowing this, the manager reachedout to the cops and fileda complaint. Cops zero-in on this19-year old boy.

The investigation officer told WION that: "He was very keen on getting the bank manager job after his father died while on duty (13 years ago). After turning 18 years of age the boy applied for the bank job and was eagerly waiting. But, the boy’s application was not accepted".

It was during the recent months that the boy also got started with the basic work to run a bank branch. With the help of local printers and suppliers, he got the challans, documents, and seals ready. However, he did not use a nameboard to depict it was a bank branch.

The local suppliers who arranged the seals and documents told cops that they helped the boy considering that his parents were bank staff and assuming his reasons were legitimate.

The Panruti Station Police registered an FIR under Sections 471, 473, 468, and 109 IPC.

The boy and his accomplices were arrested and remanded and later the magistrate granted them bail.

Cops said that forgery of documents and seals have happened in this case.

But the public has not come up and registered complaints of them losing money or being cheated by this individual/group in the guise of a bank.

"It is learnt that the boy is an adopted child and it was kept secret all this while. The family suspects that he has gotten to know about being an adopted child. His mother and aunt who live with him were totally unaware of his activities. Although the boy has extraordinary knowledge of banking transactions, he has a very innocent, childlike demeanor. He was obsessed with the bank job and that’s what led him to forge the documents and seals and set-up a bank at home"Ambethkar, the Investigating officer said.