Ex-ICICI Bank manager arrested in ₹4.58 cr fraud case in Kota; over 110 accounts compromised

Sakshi Gupta, who worked at the branch in the DCM locality of Kota city between 2020 and 2023, was taken into custody on May 31 by the Udhyog Nagar police following an extensive investigation, according to a Times of India report.

Police said the fraud was first reported on February 18 this year.

Investigators found that Gupta had accessed over 110 bank accounts belonging to 41 customers and carried out a series of unauthorised transactions.

The embezzled funds were allegedly funnelled into stock market investments, which later resulted in major financial losses.

To avoid detection, she reportedly changed the mobile numbers linked to several customer accounts, replacing them with numbers belonging to her relatives.

This blocked the original account holders from receiving transaction alerts and OTPs, police said.

A formal complaint was filed by branch manager Tarun Dadhich after he detected irregularities in transactions, which led to a comprehensive audit and eventually police intervention.

“She systematically transferred funds, sometimes using the account of an elderly woman who had no knowledge of the activity as a pool account,” said sub-inspector Ibrahim from Udhyog Nagar police station was quoted as aying by TOI. “By mid-February 2023, over ₹3 crore had passed through that single account.”

The investigation revealed that Gupta had unauthorisedly activated overdraft facilities on 40 accounts and prematurely closed fixed deposits of 31 customers, diverting ₹1.34 crore in the process.

She is also accused of misusing debit cards, PINs and OTPs to carry out transactions both online and via ATMs.

Gupta disbursed a fraudulent personal loan of ₹3.4 lakh and made extensive use of Insta Kiosk machines and digital banking tools to facilitate the illegal transfers.

Proceeds from the misappropriated funds were moved into several Demat accounts, likely in an attempt to obscure the money trail.

Following a one-day police remand, Gupta was produced in court and sent to jail. The investigation is currently ongoing.

ICICI Bank issues statement

Responding to the incident, an ICICI Bank spokesperson stated, “The interest of our customers are of paramount importance to us. Immediately upon discovering the fraudulent activity, we filed an FIR with the police. We have a zero-tolerance policy against any fraudulent activity and thus suspended the employee involved. We would like to reassure that genuine claims of impacted customers have been settled.”