Meghalaya: Rs 1.46 Crore Vanishes from SBI Account in Williamnagar; Bank Clerk Accused

SHILLONG: In a shocking case of financial fraud, a sum of Rs 1.46 crore mysteriously disappeared from a joint savings account at the State Bank of India (SBI) in Williamnagar, East Garo Hills.

The incident came to light after the account holder, Retmilla Rongdeng Sangma, filed an FIR, suspecting that bank officials were involved in the scam. A contractual bank employee, Easter Momin, is alleged to have played a key role in the fraud.

Sangma and her sons had maintained joint savings accounts in the SBI branches of Williamnagar and Nongalbibra. But to their utter shock, they found that their hard-earned savings had vanished on November 14, 2024. The bank statements showed that money was being drawn systematically between June 22, 2023, and November 14, 2024.

An FIR was filed at the Williamnagar police station and it disclosed that the amount had been withdrawn by cheques and online transfer and most of these transactions resulted in the account of Easter Momin, who was a clerk at the bank.

The worrying aspect is that the complainant's mobile number and address registered with the account were changed without their knowledge and it was changed to that of Easter Momin's.

Further scrutiny by the complainant reveals that the cheques issued on withdrawal did not bear any signatures matching their original bank records. This is seriously suspicious, pointing to a possible internal nexus for these transactions, thereby indicating fraudulent activities.

After discovering the fraud, Sangma continued to request the SBI officials, in multiple letters, and even gave a legal notice on December 16, 2024. She demanded to get back their stolen money but the bank had no decisive move. It rather gave a hazy assurance of an internal probe.

Eventually, officials at SBI accepted that such fraud transactions did take place and even managed to obtain a confession from Easter Momin, confessing to the scam. Even after this confession, the complainant claims no adequate action has been taken towards providing them with appropriate compensation and recovery of losses by bringing the wrongdoers to book.

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