Bank error makes farmer a billionaire, but for 40 minutes

[Carl Johnson]

---

---

BANK ERROR GIVES FARMER Rs.965 CRORE


FATEHABAD: Imagine the state of mind of a person, who wakes up to find that he has become a multi-billionaire with an amount of Rs 964.64 crore credit in his savings bank account.

This happened with Sushil Kumar, a marginal farmer of Nehla village of this district on Friday morning. Sushil got the shock of his life when he accessed his bank account to check the balance through e-banking in his account with Punjab National Bank branch of the village.

Sushil's status as multibillionaire lasted 40 minutes as acting on the information, bank officials freezed his bank account for further transactions. Even on a Sunday morning, the bankers were struggling to track the error which resulted in the mix-up. But, poor Sushil has been rendered unable to withdraw money from the account.

"I had accessed my account to check the balance after my friend deposited an amount of Rs 40,000 in the account. After finding such a huge amount flashed on the computer screen, I rushed to the ATM to cross check. To my surprise, the slip showed the same amount of Rs 964.64 crore in my account. I informed the bank accordingly,'' said Sushil, a young farmer in his early 30s.

Within 40 minutes, officials from the bank reached my home to obtain consent for account freeze, he added. Ramesh Kumar, manager of the bank where Sushil maintains the account, confirmed the development but expressed inability to share more information.

BR Sharma, chief manager of PNB, Fatehabad confirmed freezing the account. "Yes, we came to know about the fault. Once the bank authorities freeze an account, no one could access the account. The bank has taken back the sum from Sunil Kumar's account. We will check how this happened and who made the mistake,'' said Sharma.

Bank error makes farmer a billionaire, but for 40 minutes - The Times of India

[killerx]

---

---