NEW DELHI, April 10 -- The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police has arrested two key accused, including a vegetable vendor and a manager of Axis Bank, in a sophisticated cyber fraud case involving the siphoning of nearly 9 crore rupees from the corporate bank account of L&T SUCG JV.

The police were informed about the fraud through a complaint registered at the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police.

The accused were identified as Nitin Birmal Dongare (36), a resident of Panwadi, Dharashiv, Maharashtra and Ashish Khandelwal (32), a resident of Hastsal, Uttam Nagar, Delhi.

According to the police, the accused gained unauthorised access to the account by fraudulently altering the registered mobile number and email ID and subsequently misusing Corporate Internet Banking.

The complaint, filed by Gaurav Sharma, Branch Head of Axis Bank, Adhchini Branch, revealed that the corporate account of L&T SUCG JV, a joint venture between Larsen & Toubro Limited and Shanghai Urban Construction Group, was compromised after fraudsters posed as company employees.

On June 7, 2024, a fraudulent request to change the contact details in the account was processed.

A month later, on July 2024, a person named Ram Gade, impersonating an L&T employee, submitted a request at Axis Bank's Osmanabad Branch in Maharashtra to activate Corporate Internet Banking (CIB) services. The forged documents went unchecked, and access was granted.

Between July 11 and August 30, 2024, a total of 94 unauthorized debit transactions were executed through internet banking, resulting in the siphoning of 8.94 crore rupees into multiple accounts.

An FIR was registered on October 16, 2024, and EOW launched a detailed investigation.

The investigation revealed Nitin Birmal Dongare used a fraudulent mobile number, while Ashish Khandelwal, a bank employee, accessed the victim's account 55 times. Dongare was arrested on April 2, and Khandelwal on April 8. They exploited a dormant account using forged documents. Authorities are tracing more accomplices. Police advise monitoring bank accounts regularly and warn employees to verify credentials thoroughly to prevent fraud.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.