MUMBAI, Sept. 27 -- In what investigators are calling a tale of greed and reckless gambling, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has revealed that 32-year-old Hitesh Singla, the suspended Bank of India (BOI) officer accused of siphoning off Rs.16.1 crore from 127 customer accounts, squandered nearly 90% of the stolen money in high-risk stock market trades, crypto tokens, and online betting platforms. By the time the law caught up with Singla-with his arrest on a moving train in Ahmedabad last week-the money trail had all but evaporated. "There is virtually no proceeds of crime (POC) left. The accused lost heavily in speculative futures and options, online gaming-betting and crypto. The remaining was spent on personal expenses," an ED official said. The revelation leaves little for investigators to seize or victims to hope for by way of restitution. Investigators say Singla lost the maximum chunk-over Rs.11.5 crore-in stock market futures and options trades. The rest went into crypto trading and online gaming-betting platforms. Even Rs.1.5 crore he had initially parked with a female friend in Mumbai, hoping to keep it safe, was eventually pulled back and sunk into online gaming and betting. Last week, ED searched her residence, but by then, the money had already vanished. "He got trapped in a vicious cycle of trying to recover losses with bigger bets, only to sink deeper every time," said an official. The agency believes Singla's gamble followed a classic pattern of addiction-initial wins luring him into riskier positions, followed by mounting losses that drove him to pour in more of the siphoned money in a desperate attempt to recover. The result: a clean wipe-out. According to ED's findings, the fraudulent siphoning began in May 2023 and continued until July this year. Singla, a staff officer posted at a city-based BOI branch, allegedly manipulated internal systems to close fixed deposits, Public Provident Funds (PPFs), senior citizen savings schemes, and even dormant accounts without requisite authorisation. He specifically targeted what officials describe as "vulnerable profiles"-accounts belonging to senior citizens, minors, deceased customers, and inactive holders. These accounts, being less frequently monitored, allowed him to operate undetected. The proceeds from these closed accounts were diverted into Singla's personal accounts with the State Bank of India. Investigators say the transfers were broken into smaller instalments, camouflaging the magnitude of the fraud and helping it slip under the radar for months. The fraud came to light earlier this year when Singla stopped reporting to work and his absence coincided with irregularities noticed in the branch accounts. Alarmed, BOI approached the CBI. On August 6, the CBI's Anti-Corruption Branch in Mumbai registered an FIR against Singla and unnamed accomplices. What followed was a manhunt across states. For weeks, Singla remained on the run, shifting between locations to evade detection. ED investigators eventually tracked him down last week in Gujarat. Following his arrest, Singla was produced before a special PMLA court in Mumbai, which remanded him to ED custody. During interrogation, he was kept under 24/7 watch to prevent any attempt at self-harm. He is currently in judicial custody till October 7. The ED is now working to identify and attach assets equivalent to the Rs.16.10 crore proceeds of crime. But officials concede the task may prove difficult. Singla, they say, comes from a modest middle-class background and is unlikely to own substantial property of his own. Despite attempts, HT could not contact the officials at the BOI Bandra branch, where the accused worked, over a comment on the case....