Three employees of the State Bank of Sikkim (SBS) have been accused of embezzling Rs 69 crore, prompting a significant investigation by the authorities.
The accused include Dorjee Tshering Lepcha, General Manager (Operations), Tsewang Dorjee Lepcha, Assistant Manager (IT), and Tilak Rai, Senior Accounts Assistant, all of whom worked at the bank's head office in Gangtok.
The bank has lodged an FIR with the CID Sikkim Police, who have registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including IPC 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), IPC 120B (criminal conspiracy), IPC 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant, or by banker, merchant or agent), IPC 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), and IPC 477A (falsification of accounts). Relevant sections of the IT Act 2000 have also been invoked.
According to the FIR, the accused employees orchestrated the scam by manipulating various accounts and opening fixed deposits in the name of a State government assistant engineer.
They also invested in both immovable and movable assets.
The embezzled funds were transferred to the account of Dorjee Tshering Lepcha's wife, who is employed as an engineer in the State government's road and bridges department.
The FIR was initially filed on April 30, with the case being formally registered on May 14. SBS officials have managed to trace and recover Rs 50-52 crore of the embezzled funds.
However, Rs 19 crore remains unaccounted for and is believed to be dispersed across various sources.
SBS Managing Director PW Bhutia informed local media that the misappropriation was detected during a routine check of the bank accounts.
He reassured that efforts are ongoing to recover the remaining funds.
The State Bank of Sikkim, with a worth of Rs 10,000 crore, is now under scrutiny as investigations continue to uncover the full extent of the embezzlement and to hold those responsible accountable.
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