New Delhi, March 19 (IANS) The ED attached two immovable properties in Jharkhand and Bihar, worth Rs 97.92 lakh, belonging to a former Branch Manager of State Bank of India (SBI) in connection with a Rs 5.4 crore fraud involving inactive accounts of deceased pensioners, an official said.​

The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Ranchi Zonal Office, attached the properties in Bihar and Jharkhand that belonged to Manoj Kumar, former Branch Manager, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.​

The attachment includes a residential house in Sahebganj, Jharkhand, and a flat in Patna, Bihar, the ED said in a statement, adding the properties were in the name of Kumar and his family members.​

The federal probe agency initiated its investigation based on multiple FIRs and charge sheets filed by the CBI, ACB, Dhanbad, and the Shikaripara Police Station.​

The predicate offences include criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and criminal misconduct by a public servant under the IPC, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the statement said.​

The investigation revealed that Manoj Kumar, while posted at various SBI branches, including Sahebganj, Barhait Bazar, Phulbanga, and Shikaripara, abused his official position to orchestrate a massive financial fraud, the ED said.​

The modus operandi involved executing hundreds of unauthorised debit transactions from the accounts of vulnerable customers, specifically deceased or inactive pensioners and Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loanees, it said.​

Diverted funds were siphoned through a complex web of intermediary accounts, NGOs, and shell entities to obscure the money trail. The total “Proceeds of Crime” generated through these scheduled offences has been quantified at Rs 5.4 crore, the ED said.​

In a separate development, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said recently that Special Courts for Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases have convicted 124 accused in 56 out of 59 cases filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during the five-year period from April 1, 2021, to Feb 28, 2026.​

During this period, the ED has arrested 903 persons under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, said Chaudhary​

The ED has also recorded 4,377 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs) under the provisions of PMLA, 2002.​

–IANS

rch/dan