Kerala bank employee, on the run for months after swindling Rs 8 crore, arrested in Bengaluru

According to Bengaluru Police, a special investigation team from Kerala arrested the accused from a flat in the HSR layout in Bengaluru on Sunday and took him to Kerala for further investigation on Monday.

Varghese, a clerk at the bank, was in charge of handling fixed deposits accounts. He allegedly used the system password to close fixed deposits of a few customers and transferred the amount to the accounts of his wife and relatives, police sources said.

“He used a fake id in the name of Vikas Kumar and rented a flat in Bengaluru where he stayed with his wife and two children. He also played online games like ‘rummy’ and invested in the stock market. To avoid tracing, he had disposed of his old sim cards and bank cards,” police said.

The accused, a native of Avaneeswaram in Pathanapuram in Kollam district, Kerala went missing after the bank authorities detected the fraud.

According to the police, Varghese had allegedly swindled a total of Rs 8.13 crore in 191 transactions over a period of one-and-half-years from the Canara bank branch. The bank management lodged a complaint on February 14. By this time, however, the accused had already escaped with his family and the Kerala Police could only trace his car to an apartment complex in Kochi city in February.

Varghese, who managed to stay off the police radar for three months, was finally caught after he used a new SIM to call his friend in Kollam. The Kerala Police tracked his location to Indiranagar in Bengaluru and the Pathanamthitta police arrived in the city on Thursday.

The police officials then tracked the same number that Varghese used to order food and reached his flat following the delivery person.

The Kerala police have booked IPC 420, IT Act 66 among other sections against him and investigation is on.