In a significant ruling, the State Consumer Commission has ordered the Bank of Baroda to compensate Lucknow-based businessman Somnath Chatterjee with a total of 74.25 lakh rupees. This decision comes after Chatterjee’s bank account was fraudulently accessed and a sum of 51.88 lakh rupees was withdrawn.
Initially, the Bank of Baroda attributed the unauthorized transaction to the account holder’s negligence and refused to refund the amount. However, Chatterjee contested this claim and approached the State Consumer Commission for redress.
After hearing both parties, Justice Ashok Kumar, President of the State Consumer Commission, directed the Bank of Baroda to reimburse the stolen amount of 51.88 lakh rupees with an annual interest rate of 10%. Additionally, the bank is to pay 10 lakh rupees for mental anguish and 25 thousand rupees for litigation expenses incurred by Chatterjee.
The commission highlighted the suspicious role of bank employees in the fraud, suggesting their possible involvement in hacking the account. The investigation revealed that Chatterjee, who owns Mudra Marketing in Lucknow and holds multiple accounts including a savings, current, and overdraft account with the Bank of Baroda’s Narhi branch, found unauthorized withdrawals from his accounts on the morning following a night when his mobile phone was switched off. Notably, no OTP, SMS confirmation, call, or email was received prior to the transactions.
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Despite immediate reporting to the bank and filing an FIR with the Cyber Fraud Cell, the bank initially dismissed the claim, insisting that standard security procedures had been followed. Chatterjee’s subsequent complaint to the Banking Ombudsman also did not yield any relief.
Before delivering its verdict, the State Consumer Commission examined the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines, which underscore the greater responsibility of banks in cases of cyber fraud, especially when no negligence is found on the part of the customer or bank, but a deficiency in the banking system is evident.
