“Last Friday, Gaidhankar visited our Dadar branch and submitted a letter of credit for a loan of Rs five crore. The letter bore the SBI logo, the name of the Murtiganj branch and some phone numbers on it. He was at ease when we told him that the letter would have to be verified from the branch that issued it. He said he would visit us after a few days. We doubted the authenticity of the letter from the beginning,” said Abyhudaya Bank’s Special officer, foreign exchange department, Ravindra Kamath who is also the complainant in the case.

According to the bank officials, Gaidhankar had opened an account with the Vashi branch of Abhyudaya in August last year. “However, he didn’t carry out many transactions and deposited money occasionally. The account has been frozen,” said Kamath.

Kamath said that they had called the number printed on the letter to verify the source and someone claiming to be a SBI branch manager answered the call and said that the letter was genuine. However, the Abhyudaya officials were not convinced and approached the Dadar branch of SBI to verify it where they discovered that the letter was forged. The officials immediately informed the Shivaji Nagar police.

“Gaidhankar visited us again on Tuesday and asked if the transactions were done. He wanted to transfer Rs three crore in the accounts of four people and wanted to withdraw the rest. We told him to wait while we process his request. Meanwhile the police officials in plain clothes arrived at the spot and arrested him. He had no clue that his fraud has been discovered,” said Kamath.