HDFC Bank, RBI Issued Notice By Bombay High Court After Employee Accused Of Siphoning

The Bombay High Court recently called upon HDFC Bank Ltd. and the Reserve Bank of India after a bank employee allegedly stole Rs 3 crore from a customer’s fixed deposits. 

The court raised concerns over the delayed police action and the bank’s failure to implement adequate security measures, warning that such incidents could severely impact public trust in the banking system.

In the case at hand, a bank customer, Meenakshi Rahul Kapuria, claimed that her Relationship Manager, Payal Harsh Kothari, at HDFC Bank's Lokhandwala branch in Mumbai, broke her fixed deposits worth Rs 3 crore, without her consent. 

It was further brought to the court’s notice that the funds were transferred to fictitious accounts and then siphoned off into Kothari’s accounts. Notably, Kapuria received no alerts from the bank regarding the transactions.

During the hearing, Kapuria’s advocate argued that Kothari had gained her trust, promising to invest her savings in safer options like mutual funds and gold bonds. Instead, the relationship manager misused blank signed cheques provided for these investments to divert the funds into personal accounts. 

It was further claimed that the police had been sluggish in their investigation and had not collected crucial evidence, including the blank cheques.

The court noted that the police had frozen some of the accused’s accounts, but these contained minimal amounts. Furthermore, it has been alleged the police had not seized the accused’s mobile phone or investigated the involvement of other bank officials in tampering with the bank's electronic systems.

In light of the serious nature of the crime, the court has allowed the bank customer to add HDFC Bank and RBI as respondents in the case. The court ordered that both entities be notified and appear before the court on Dec. 13, 2024, to answer for their role in the incident.

The next hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13, 2024, before a bench comprising Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj K. Chavan. The court has directed the police to complete their investigation and take appropriate actions, including departmental action against any involved bank officers.