CBI unearths fraud at Barmer PNB, files FIRs against branch’s ex-boss

NEW DELHI: After the Rs 11,300 crore PNB scam involving diamantaires Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi among others, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has come across another instance of cheating at the bank’s Barmer branch in Rajasthan, where the branch manager allegedly siphoned off money from some govern-ment schemes and put it in the accounts of fictitious persons causing a loss of over Rs 2 crore to the bank.


The investigation agency has filed two FIRs against Inder Chand Chundawat, former senior branch manager at PNB’s Barmer branch.

The first FIR states that Chundawat, between August 2011 and June 2012, deposited huge amounts of money related to government schemes into an account opened by him under a fictitious name — Sugna Devi.

It was found that there was no account opening form for this account nor any transfer/cash voucher was available. In all, Chundawat siphoned off Rs 1.57 crore.

In the second case, Chundawat sanctioned and disbursed 26 Mudra loans — between September 2016 and March 2017 — in violation of rules and regulations, causing a loss of over Rs 62 lakh to the bank.

PNB had extended loan to micro enterprises for income generation under the Prime Minister Mudra Yojna. The loans, ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh in different categories, are given with lower interest rates and there is no requirement of collateral security.

However, after the loan is given, the asset is mandatorily required to be created out of the loan amount.

It turned out that Chundawat disbursed loans in the name of people who didn’t even reside in Barmer.

No pre-loan sanction inspection was done, no asset was created out of the loans and field verification of Chundawat was found to be fake, the CBI said.