Jhansi: Police on Saturday arrested an alleged interstate conman accused of siphoning off Rs 40 lakh belonging to the grandson of legendary hockey icon Major Dhyan Chand through an elaborate banking fraud involving forged documents and suspected collusion within a bank.The accused, Sameer Samonto (49), a resident of West Bengal’s Hooghly district, allegedly orchestrated the fraud by replacing genuine banking documents with forged papers during a transaction at a bank branch in Jhansi. Investigators said the manipulation enabled him to divert the entire amount into an account under his control.Police have registered a case against Samonto and an unidentified bank employee suspected of facilitating the fraud. Officials said a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds has been frozen as part of the ongoing investigation, while efforts are underway to trace and recover the remaining amount.According to police, the victim, Ajay Kumar Singh, a petrol pump owner and grandson of the legendary hockey player, had sent Rs 40 lakh to a Central Bank branch through his security guard for transfer via RTGS on Tuesday. Investigators alleged that the accused cleverly swapped the original pay-in slip with a forged document during the transaction process and redirected the entire amount to an account named “Sukuhumandi” at a Punjab and Sind Bank branch in Bardhaman district of Bengal.The fraud came to light when the intended transaction failed to reach its designated account. Following the discovery, Singh lodged a complaint at Sipri Bazar police station against an unidentified individual and a suspected bank employee. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.Following an intensive investigation, police arrested Samonto on Saturday while he was allegedly preparing to leave Jhansi. During the operation, officers recovered Rs 94,000 in cash and jewellery worth around Rs 1.68 lakh, which he is believed to have purchased from branded showrooms over the previous two days using the fraudulently obtained money. Several filled cheques, cheque books, mobile phones and SIM cards suspected to be linked to the scam were also seized from his possession.Police said timely action enabled them to freeze nearly Rs 37 lakh lying in the accused’s bank account, preventing a major portion of the stolen money from being siphoned off and significantly reducing the victim’s financial loss.Revealing the modus operandi, SP City Preety Singh said the accused confessed that he carried out similar banking frauds in different parts of the country using at least eight bank accounts operated in his name. According to investigators, Samonto arrived in Jhansi on May 31 and spent several days surveying banks before identifying a suitable target.Police said that while the victim’s security guard was completing the RTGS formalities at the bank counter, the accused allegedly managed to replace the genuine transaction documents with forged papers, allowing him to divert the funds to an account under his control.During questioning, Samonto allegedly admitted that such frauds were his primary source of livelihood and claimed that he rarely returned to a city after executing a scam. Investigators are now probing the possible role of a bank employee and examining whether a larger network was involved in facilitating the fraud.Police said further investigations are underway to determine the full scale of the accused’s operations and identify any associates who may have helped execute similar scams across multiple states.
