The Chennai City Police arrested a man who ran a fake bank in the city for nearly a year on November 5. Chandrabose (42) of Thousand Lights, an MBA graduate, who studied in the United Kingdom (UK) reportedly ran the 'bank' named Rural Agricultural Farmers' Co-Operative (RAFC) bank. He ran the bank in Ambattur in Chennai and eight other places across the state and collected deposits from the people by claiming his bank is regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The Central Crime Branch (CCB), based on the complaint from the Assistant General Manager (AGM) of the Reserve Bank of India, conducted research in the head office of the 'bank' that is located in the VGN Brent Park in Ambattur. Police seized the documents from the office and a luxury car owned by Chandrabose. Chandrabose who was arrested by the CCB later remanded in judicial custody till November 18.
According to City Police Commissioner Shankar Jiwal, Chandrabose fabricated the certificate and claimed it was given by RBI and opened branches in 9 places across the state. RAFC functioned in Thiruvannamalai, Thirumangalam (Madurai), Salem, Erode, Namakkal, Kallakurichi, Vriddhachalam, and Perambalur. Police said that the modus operandi of the bank was to collect Rs 700 as a membership fee and the bank would issue a credit/debit card to the customers with a balance of Rs 500 and the card numbers would be provided as the bank account number of the customers.
The primary investigation revealed that the branches in 9 locations might've transacted around Rs. 2 crores as the bank collected money from the customers under various schemes and for loans. Like any other bank, 'RAFC bank' issued passbooks, had its own withdrawal slips, deposit slips, rubber stamps, and KYC forms, and had special investment schemes like fixed deposits in its entity.
In the press conference on November 08, Shankar Jiwal said the customers of the bank didn’t give any complaints but the research was conducted based on the complaint given by RBI. “The accused got the credit cards from the ICICI bank in the name of “RAFC Society” for his bank customers. Later he put the RAFC bank stickers on the cards and issued them to the customers. Shanker said that the police department seized Rs. 56 lakhs. "Further investigation and auditing will ascertain how much money is being transacted from this bank. We found one ICICI bank account that the accused used to get all the credit cards for customers. The further investigation will reveal how many banks he used to run his bank, Shankar said.
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