Tripura Govt Forms SIT to Probe Rs 16.38 Crore AMC Bank Fraud
Agartala, Sept 11: The Tripura government has constituted a four-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 16.38 crore from the Agartala Municipal Corporation’s (AMC) bank account through cloned cheques, officials confirmed on Thursday.
According to officials, the SIT will be headed by the Additional Superintendent of Police (Urban), West Tripura, who will report directly to West Tripura Superintendent of Police Namit Pathak.
The other members of the probe team include Sadar SDPO Deba Prasad Roy, West Agartala Police Station Officer-in-Charge Inspector Rana Chatterjee—who is also the investigating officer of the case—and Sub-Inspector Ranjit Das.
The investigation began after UCO Bank’s Zonal Manager, Sanjib Roy, filed a complaint with West Agartala police, pointing out that six counterfeit cheques were used last week to siphon off Rs 16.38 crore from AMC’s account. Police have registered a case against unknown fraudsters.
AMC Mayor and BJP legislator Dipak Majumder clarified that no civic employee or officer was linked to the scam.
Preliminary inquiries revealed that the fraudsters, reportedly operating from Hyderabad, forged the signature of a former AMC official to encash the fake cheques, while the original ones remain in AMC’s custody.
“Our team has verified that the original cheques are intact with AMC officers. CCTV footage from UCO Bank’s main branch at Kaman Chowmuhani has also been obtained and is under scrutiny to identify the individuals who submitted the forged cheques,” a senior police officer stated.
Officials believe that once the culprits who physically deposited the cloned cheques are identified, it will lead investigators to the wider network involved.
Meanwhile, AMC has formally requested UCO Bank to restore the siphoned amount, and the bank has agreed. An AMC official pointed out that a similar fraud occurred a few years ago, when the bank also refunded the lost funds.
Tripura Director General of Police Anurag, while speaking last week, revealed that since 2021, the state police have uncovered cyber frauds worth Rs 46.96 crore. Of this, Rs 5.2 crore has been frozen, and Rs 34 lakh has already been returned to victims.
The DGP added that police are working on a special campaign to refund the remaining money within the next three months after necessary verifications. He further disclosed that investigators have traced details of over 20,000 bank accounts linked to cybercrime operations in the state. (Edited with inputs from IANS)
