PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK Vs. S P DHOOT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a suit for recovery of Rs. 22,53,410/- filed by the plaintiff-bank in which interest @ 16.85% per annum is also claimed alongwith costs of the suit.

(2.) THE facts as pleaded in the plaint are that the defendant was an employee of the plaintiff-bank. The plaintiff-bank came to know during the course of tallying the balances on 25.2.1995 a difference of Rs. 25,000/- in one of the saving fund ledgers of the plaintiff-bank and it became clear that the defendant was guilty of defrauding the bank. The defendant is stated to have admitted to the fraud and promised to repay the amount. Further frauds were subsequently discovered by the plaintiff-bank on 1.3.1995, 2.3.1995 and so on. The modus operandi of the defendant was that he opened various fictitious accounts, transferred amounts from other accounts to these fictitious accounts and made withdrawal from the said accounts unauthorisedly under his signatures. The details of the fraudulent actions and accounts opened and operated are given in para 7 of the plaint. The total amount siphoned by the defendant from the plaintiff was Rs. 27,85,523. The defendant, however, deposited a sum of Rs. 18,12,800/- leaving behind a sum of Rs. 9,40,723/- recoverable from him. It is for this amount alongwith the claim of interest that the suit has been filed. The plaint was subsequently amended to state that the payment by the defendant as Rs. 19,12,800/- i.e. Rs. 1 lakh more and therefore the amount due from the defendant would be Rs. 8,72,723/- alongwith interest @ 16.85% per annum.

(3.) PLAINTIFF-bank has filed affidavits by way of evidence of its various officers. The affidavits by way of evidence have been filed of Sh. S.K. Sharma (PW-1), Sh. Dharam Pal (PW-2), Sh. Devi Singh Palia (PW-3) and Smt. Leena Anand (PW-4).