In a brazen act of deception, six individuals orchestrated an elaborate scam by establishing a fake State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Chhapora village, Sakti district, Chhattisgarh, in just ten days.
The culprits, having transformed their makeshift operation into a convincing banking establishment, intercepted transactions and swindled villagers out of substantial sums.
Located 250 km from Raipur, the village became the centre of a fraudulent banking operation where the perpetrators created a façade of legitimacy, complete with cash counters, paperwork, and new furniture.
Villagers were lured to open accounts and conduct transactions, while unsuspecting employees were led to believe they had secured stable jobs.
The charade came to light when the manager of a legitimate SBI branch in nearby Dabra grew suspicious of the newly opened bank.
On September 27, police and SBI officials descended upon the scene, exposing the scam.
Senior police official Rajesh Patel confirmed the identification of three suspects: Rekha Sahu, Mandir Das, and Pankaj.
The mastermind behind this deception not only supplied counterfeit documents and bogus job titles but also trained recruits, extorting between ₹2 lakh and ₹6 lakh from them for promised employment.
Ajay Kumar Agarwal, a villager who had sought an SBI kiosk in Chhapora, raised concerns about the sudden appearance of the branch.
His inquiry to the nearest SBI branch in Dabra confirmed there was no record of it, prompting him to alert the police.
The scam primarily targeted unemployed individuals from districts like Korba, Balod, Kabirdham, and Sakti. Employee Jyoti Yadav recounted, "I was promised ₹30,000 after submitting all my documents and providing biometric data."
Another victim, Sangeeta Kanwar, revealed, "I was asked for ₹5 lakh, but I told them I couldn't pay that much. We eventually settled for ₹2.5 lakh. I was promised a salary of ₹30,000 to ₹35,000."
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