The Saidapet police have arrested two staff members of a private bank for swindling money by fraudulent methods, and launched a hunt for the bank manager who has been absconding.
According to the police, Sulaiman, 32, residing on VGP Road in Saidapet, has been maintaining a savings account at the Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) on Lawyer Jaganathan Street in Guindy. As he regularly visited the bank, the branch manager, Saminathan, became acquainted with him. The manager told Sulaiman that whenever he needed to withdraw money, he would send an employee to his house. From then on, when contacted, the manager would send an employee to Sulaiman’s residence with the necessary forms, collect the signatures, and hand over the money.
On July 2, Sulaiman contacted Saminathan, saying that he urgently needed to pledge his gold ornaments. Following this, Saminathan sent the bank cashier, Prasad, to his house. Sulaiman then handed over 162 sovereigns of gold ornaments and signed the pledge forms. Later, whenever he called up the manager asking for money, Saminathan kept postponing it, citing various reasons. Only when Sulaiman went to the bank to enquire on July 15, did he come to know that Saminathan had been suspended for defrauding several people.
Realising that he had been cheated of 162 sovereigns of gold ornaments, Sulaiman lodged a complaint at the Saidapet Police Station, seeking to take action against Saminathan and the bank employees, and to recover his jewels.
The investigation revealed that Saminathan, along with Prasad and other employees, had pledged gold ornaments in the names of inactive account holders by forging their signatures, and fraudulently obtained loans. Saminathan had pledged Sulaiman’s 162 sovereigns of gold in another person’s name at the same bank, and used it to fraudulently avail a loan of ₹90 lakh.
Following this, the police arrested the two accused – Prasad, 25, and Divakar, 32, bank operating manager, K.K. Nagar. Meanwhile, the police teams are actively searching for the main accused, Saminathan, along with a few others involved in the case.
Published – September 25, 2025 05:30 am IST
