India: Billions in bank accounts baffle Bihar pupils

Patna: Villagers in Bihar are confused and worried after finding huge amounts of money — well in millions and billions — getting credited to their bank accounts. This has happened for the third time in a row.

Grade six students Asit Kumar and Guruchandra Biswas from Katihar district were literally stunned to find millions and billions of rupees credited to their accounts on Wednesday. The schoolboys have their bank accounts in the local branch of the North Bihar Rural Bank.

The boys were expecting some money under a government scheme to buy school uniforms and had gone to a local public internet centre to check whether the money for school uniforms, when they found their accounts flooded with cash.

While Rs9 billion was credited to the bank account of Asit, Rs60 million was deposited to the account of Guruchandra.

The news very soon spread like a wildfire in the areas as the local villagers rushed out in large numbers to local ATMs and banks to check if they too had been credited such a huge amount of money.

Local branch manager of the bank Manoj Gupta said the bank had frozen the accounts of the two children and stopped withdrawal adding the matter was being investigated. “We have already communicated the matter to the senior bank officials,” Gupta added.

Local district magistrate Udayan Mishra said he had sought a report from the bank. “We are investigating how a huge sum was transferred to the bank accounts of two boys. The branch manager told us there was some glitch in the computerised system of sending money. The amount was visible in their statements but the actual money wasn’t in their account. I have sought a report from the bank,” Katihar District Magistrate Mishra said.

On Wednesday, a man was jailed after he refused to return Rs550,000 mistakenly credited by another rural bank in Bihar.

30-year-old Ranjit Das, a resident of Khagaria district, was very elated after finding the said amount in his bank account. The money came to his bank account in March this year. Presuming it to be the money having been sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the first installment of Rs1.5 million he had once promised to pay to every individual at his election rally, the man hurriedly withdrew a large sum of money and spent it on buying various domestic articles and clearing the debt.

His problem began after the bank called him up after some time later and asked him to return the cash saying this was sent to his account by mistake. Das later returned Rs160,970 to the bank but refused to return the rest amount he had already spent saying he was unable to return.

“I was very happy when I received the money in March this year. I thought this could be the first installment of Rs1.5 million as promised by the Prime Minister and spent it but now the bank authorities are asking me to return the money,” Das told the media.

The bank later registered a case against Das after he refused to return the rest amount. Acting on the complaint the police have arrested the man and sent him to jail. The case was registered against him on August 17.