The Central Bureau of Investigation has initiated a probe into a scam of Rs 5 crore involving officials of Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited and State Bank of India.

On June 15, the probe agency received a complaint from SBI, Bangalore against its assistant manager Sateesh V Vambashee and unknown others in the alleged scam amounting to Rs 5.01 crore.

The SBI, in its complaint to the federal probe agency, said that the bank opened a current account on July 21, 2018 – bearing number 378288793815 – based on the application from Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation (KSHDC). “It is alleged that Sateesh V Vambashee, then assistant manager of SBI, Hesarghatta Road Branch, opened one more account in the name of KSHDC – bearing account number 37830657832 – without any authorisation or resolution from KSHDC to open this account in order to facilitate the illegal transfer of funds,” the complaint says.

The FIR claims that on July 26, 2018, Rs 5.01 crore was transferred through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) from Canara Bank to account number 37828879815 of KSHDC account. However, the money was rerouted to current account number 37830657832.

From the current account, “Rs 25 lakh was debited towards a fixed account of KSHDC and the balance was transferred through 12 RTGS from July 13, 2018 to September 6, 2018 in two different accounts namely ‘Indian Bank account Velohar Infra Private Limited’ and ‘Allahabad Bank account Venture Cottage Industrial Trade Corporation’ based on cheques issued by KSHDC and signed by their assistant,” reads the CBI FIR.

According to FIR, Sateesh V Vambashee also issued a letter on SBI branch letterhead on April 9, 2019 to KSHDC falsely claiming that on the maturity of Special Term Deposit, Rs 5.37 crore would be paid to them whereas Core Banking System showed only a fixed deposit of Rs 25 lakh in the name of KSHDC.

The CBI suspects that accused Sateesh forged documents illegally, operated bank accounts and colluded with KSHDC official to commit fraud of Rs 4.76 crore.

The agency is likely to summon Sateesh and other suspects in the case for questioning.