Misappropriation of bank funds under investigation at SBI Temi branch

INTERNAL INQUIRY UNCOVERS UNAUTHORISED TRANSFER OF Rs. 9 LAKH THUS FAR
GANGTOK, 13 Aug: It is now the turn of the State Bank of India to face charges of misappropriation of money with the Temi branch of the bank coming under the scanner following a complaint lodged by the Branch Manager. While a case has been registered under cheating and criminal conspiracy, the accused are yet to be identified even as misappropriation of funds amounting to over Rs.9 lakh by transferring of SBI funds into the accounts of private individuals has thus far come to light.
The current Branch Manager, NT Bhutia, the branch manager of the SBI branch at Singtam has been temporarily posted at the Temi branch for the internal inquiry underway there. It was during the internal inquiry, which is still underway, that the misappropriation came to light. As of now, the misappropriated amount is just over Rs.9 lakh but as the inquiry is still underway it is expected that the amount will go up.
As per reports, the malfeasance was detected during inquiry that funds had been unscrupulously transferreissd from the branch subsidy account (A/C no: 1189238857) to certain individual saving accounts. As of now the funds transferred have been traced to two individual saving accounts with A/C no: 317088108398 and 10364294006.
The amount transferred comes to Rs. 9,14,000. Subsidy account is the account into which various funds and loans provided by the Centre for certain schemes are released to the bank and is part of funds of the bank. This, it is informed, was between Rs. 40 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh with the Temi branch remaining in the account. It is from this fund that money was transferred to individual accounts.
It is suspected that this amount will go up as the internal inquiry is yet to conclude. The names of the account holders have also not been disclosed as yet. However, a criminal case has been registered at the Temi police station on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust by a public servant.
The police have not actively intervened and are awaiting the conclusion of the enquiry after which a clear picture will emerge and also because the core banking system in operation.