In Ambedkar Nagar, a fraud case of more than ₹3 crore has been reported related to Punjab National Bank (PNB) and PNB MetLife India Insurance Company. Many villagers say they were cheated in the name of insurance policies.
How the Fraud Came to Light?
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A man named Umer Ahmad, who worked as an insurance agent, convinced villagers to buy insurance policies.
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Many villagers had recently received land compensation money because their land was acquired for the NTPC Tanda power project.
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Umer collected money from them and gave them fake insurance policy documents.
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When the policy time finished and people did not receive their money, they protested.
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After investigation, it was found that over 100 people may have been cheated of more than ₹3 crore.
Police Proceedings in the Case
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5 February: 10 villagers filed a complaint saying ₹50 lakh was cheated.
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6 February: Police arrested Umer and his associate Sharad, who helped edit fake policy documents.
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8 February: Investigation revealed that two former bank managers and an accountant might also be involved, and about ₹1.5 crore bribe was suspected.
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10 February: Evidence of fraud was also found in another PNB branch.
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16 February: Two more FIRs were filed for ₹51.5 lakh fraud.
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24 February: A sixth FIR was filed for ₹27 lakh fraud.
Although the main accused have been arrested, bank employees suspected in the case have not been arrested yet, even after more than a month. Victims say the police investigation is slow, which is causing anger among them. Police say teams are searching for the bank employees involved and they will be arrested soon, and the investigation is continuing.
