Officials from the Begumpet branch of Axis Bank in Hyderabad are accused of allegedly embezzling Rs 6.5 crore from the account of an Indian-origin man residing in New South Wales, Australia. Police revealed that the funds were misappropriated over a span of two years from the premium account of Paritosh Upadhyay, an overseas citizen of India (OCI).
The accused individuals include former branch head Sridevi Raghu, senior partner Venkataramana Pasarla, service partner Surekha Saini, senior vice-president Hari Vijay, and others. They face charges of cheating by impersonation, fraudulent practices, criminal breach of trust by a banker, and forgery, including electronic forgery.
Upadhyay claimed that the bank staff forged his signature to illegally withdraw money from his account. Despite reporting the crime to the bank management, he alleged that no action was taken for two years. The accused allegedly used loose-leaf cheques to withdraw large sums and transferred funds without any written consent from Upadhyay.
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