Police act swiftly to freeze bank a/c that received Rs 2 crore through cloned DD
Pune, Sep 29, 2025
The Airport police acted swiftly to get an account with a bank in Varanasi frozen after it received Rs 2 crore against a cloned copy of a demand draft (DD) presented by unidentified fraudsters. The fraudsters impersonated representatives of a consultancy firm in Varanasi.
According to police, a Pune-based agri business company, between Sept 22 and 24, had drawn the original DD from the Vimannagar branch of a private bank to pay the amount to the consultancy firm as part of a business deal that failed to materialise.
The Pune-based company approached the bank to cancel the DD when it came to their notice that someone had already presented the DD to the bank in Varanasi and the money had been transferred to an account there.
The bank manager then lodged a complaint with the Airport police, who acted to freeze the bank account in Varanasi.
Assistant inspector Sameer Karpe of the Airport police said, "The money is intact in the frozen account. We have sought details of the account and its holder from the bank in Varanasi. We are investigating how the money was transferred to that account against a cloned DD when the original DD was with the Pune company. We are also trying to establish at what stage the DD was cloned and whether it was an inside job."
The agri business company in Pune is involved in the processing of milk, agricultural produce, and other products. "Recently, it entered into a business agreement with the consultancy firm in Varanasi, and Rs 2 crore was to be paid to the firm as part of this deal," Karpe said.
The Pune bank manager stated in his complaint that on Sept 22, an official from the agri business company approached their branch to get a DD done in the name of the Varansai firm and presented a cheque of Rs 2 crore for the same purpose.The official also provided the consultancy firm's bank account and details.The DD in favour of the consultancy firm was processed and handed over to the Pune company official.
"However, the company did not mail the DD to the consultancy firm in Varanasi," Karpe added.
On Sept 25, the Pune company official approached the bank requesting the cancellation of the DD because their business deal had fallen through. He handed over the original DD to the bank officials for the cancellation process.
"At this point, the bank officials realised that the DD had been presented to the bank in Varanasi on the same day. The bank officials realised that it was a case of a cloned copy of DD presented to the bank in Varanasi. The name and account details of the drawee were changed in this cloned DD," said Karpe.
The police have registered a case of cheating, forgery, forgery of valuable securities and forgery of documents or electronic records.
[The Times of India]
