Man gets ₹1 lakh due to banking ‘mistake’, evades arrest saying 'PM Modi sent me money': Report
3 min read 28 Mar 2023, 05:46 PM ISTThe Jharkhand man had only ₹650 in his original account, but kept withdrawing ₹500 or ₹5000 amounting to a total of ₹2 lakhs
PremiumA Jharkhand man gained a whopping ₹1 Lakh due to banking mistake, only to end up in jail two years later. According to reports, the man from West Singhbhum district in was arrested on 24 March, when he tried to withdraw money from a woman's bank account.
The woman's bank account had ‘mistakenly’ got linked to accused's Aadhar number two years ago.
The police informed Indian Express that the 42 year old Beedi worker failed tor return the money and also did not turn up during summons in connection with the case.
Here's what happened
Jeetrai Samant gets to know about banking 'mistake'
The 42 year-old, Jeetrai Samant, was made aware of the money deposit through a Common Service Centre two years ago. These centres are physical facilities for delivery of the government's public services, welfare schemes, etc to rural and remote locations.
This was also the time when the Covid pandemic had wreaked havoc int he lives of people, and the country was under lockdown.
Woman says money vanishing from bank account
In September 2022, the manager of Jharkhand Rajya Gramin Bank received a complaint from Shrimati Laguri, who said money was vanishing from her account.
Samant asked to return money
As soon as the banking authorities figured out the mistake in the Aadhar number links, they asked Samat to return the money.
The beedi worker failed to do so. Following this a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Samant in October 2022 under section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Muffasil police station.
Police said Samant must have seen the account holder's name during withdrawals, "but he chose to ignore that".
How did the bank 'mistake happen?
According to Indian Express, the bank manager informed that the sponsorship for the Gramin Bank changed hands from the Bank of India to the State Bank of India.
When the entire data was merged with SBI in April 2019, Samant’s Aadhaar number got accidentally linked with someone else’s bank account. "The woman did not complain earlier, else we could have stopped it," he added, saying it was “difficult" to pin blame on a single bank official.
The UIDAI authroities have said that the goof up is ‘clearly the bank’s mistake'.
How did Samant not get caught earlier?
The Police told The Indian Express that Samant must have bribed the officials at CSC in order to keep the mistake under the wraps. Further, when Samant was informed about the incidents, the 42 year-old replied that he believed Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent him the money.
Samant had been served three summon notices to appear before the police from October to March, under Section 41 A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), under which police can arrest a person without a warrant if he fails to appear before the court or the police.
‘PM Modi gave me money’, says Samant
In December, Samant told the news agency that during the first Covid lockdown, it was announced that people would receive something and people in the village started checking the amount in their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. "I put my thumb on the reading machine and it showed a balance of ₹1,12,000. I rushed to the Gramin Bank, but could not find any money having been credited there. When I asked them about it, they told me the government would have sent the amount," he added.
According to the police, Samant, a father of six children, kept withdrawing the money, which amounted to ₹2 lakh.
He also wrote to the police in response to one of the notices. There he said, "During the lockdown, there was a talk in the village that the Modi government was giving money in the account. My Aadhaar-based account showed ₹1 lakh. The bank manager said I could withdraw the money. Now, a case has been registered against me. I am not at fault. Without my knowledge, my Aadhaar was linked to someone else’s bank account. For the last two years, the bank did not even inform me."
Police said Samant came to the station after he first received the notice but did not commit on returning the money. They added that Samant’s account originally had only ₹650, but he kept withdrawing amounts ranging between ₹500 and ₹5,000.
