Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: In yet another case of loan scam, a case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery has been booked against the management of the Ajanta Urban Cooperative Bank as well as the employees concerned who have worked in it since March 2006. The scam is to the tune of Rs 97.4 crore, the city police said. The auditor of the bank has already been arrested.Based on a complaint lodged by the cooperative societies departments special auditor Suresh Kakde, the City Chowk police registered an FIR late on Wednesday. Ajanta Urban Cooperative Banks incumbent chairman and former Congress MLC Subhash Zambad, CEO Pradeep Kulkarni and banks auditor Satish Mohre were named in the FIR.Zambad refuted all allegations against him and said, We are ready to assist in the ongoing probe.The case has been transferred to the economic offences wing (EOW), which arrested Mohre and produced him before a court on Thursday. He was remanded in police custody.EOW inspector Sambhaji Pawar said Mohre audited the banks transactions for the financial year 2022-23, but did not raise any flags about the 36 suspicious/dubious loan transactions.These transactions were found to be in breach of the existing norms and laws after the special auditor of the department of cooperative societies audited the cooperative bank, said Pawar.The officer said it has also been found that Mohre submitted forged certificates along with a forged balance sheet, stating that Ajanta Bank has deposits of Rs 32.8 crore in three different banks.Police said after the alleged dubious transactions came to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India recently, restrictions were imposed on the banks transactions.We also published the following articles recentlyCivil society forum writes to RBI governor Shaktikanta Das seeking information security auditors system for banksBank Bachao Desh Bachao Manch, a civil society forum, has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to implement an independent information security (IS) audit system for banks. The forum has requested the appointment of independent auditors to investigate banks with mobile banking apps to ensure the safety of customer deposits. They have also asked the RBI to instruct banks to investigate the operations of business correspondents to detect any malpractices, such as substitution of biometric details during account opening. The forum believes that the drive to onboard customers on mobile banking apps has contributed to the increase in bank frauds.RBI imposes penalty on ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank for violation of normsThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of INR 12.19 crore on ICICI Bank and INR 3.95 crore on Kotak Mahindra Bank for non-compliance with certain regulatory norms. ICICI Bank was penalized for violating norms related to loans and advances, fraud classification, and reporting. Kotak Mahindra Bank was penalized for contravening directions related to risk management, code of conduct in outsourcing, recovery agents, customer service, and loans and advances. The penalties are based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and do not question the validity of any transactions or agreements with customers.14 posing as bank officials held in Noida for duping loan seekersThe Noida Police have arrested 14 individuals suspected of being part of a gang involved in defrauding people by posing as representatives of prominent banks and offering assistance with loans. The gang operated from an office in Noidas industrial Sector 6. The authorities seized Rs 11 lakh in cash, along with mobile phones and calling data. The fraudsters would impersonate bank employees and ask for personal information and money from loan seekers. The accused have been charged under the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

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