Individual Embezzles Rs 1 Cr From Insurance Company

In Dadar, an unknown individual is facing charges for allegedly embezzling Rs 99.99 lakh from the bank account of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company through the forgery of signatures on a mandate form. The accused's modus operandi is considered novel, prompting an ongoing investigation to identify and locate the perpetrator.

Vishal Katkar, a Worli resident associated with ICICI Lombard, reported the incident to the police in late October. He claimed that someone had forged the signatures of senior officials on the mandate form, granting authorisation for banks to execute auto-debit transactions.

The mandate form, containing forged signatures of ICICI Lombard's senior officers, led to the bank deducting the specified amount from the company's account. The funds were then transferred to the fraudster's account in the final week of October, according to a Dadar police station officer.

ICICI Lombard maintains a bank account with the Nariman Point branch of ICICI Bank. An authorized individual responsible for monitoring the account discovered a Rs 99.99 lakh withdrawal on 29 October, processed through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The mandate form, submitted online via NPCI, facilitated the transfer to another unlinked bank account.

Upon realising that the recipient account was not associated with the company, the authorised person consulted senior officials whose signatures appeared on the mandate form. The officials denied authorising the transaction, confirming that the signatures were fraudulent.

The accused is facing charges under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.

Law enforcement has traced the accused to Jharkhand, and a team is en route to apprehend the individual.