Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held the Centre responsible for the recent bank fraud incidents and said that the issue would be taken up by Trinamul Congress MPs in Parliament.

Miss Banerjee said that the Union finance ministry should inquire into the entire matter. “Who is involved behind such incidents has to be looked into. The financial security of people has been lost since the introduction of notebandi (demonetisation).

In a country where many areas do not have banks, how can they (the Centre) push plastic cards? Moreover, with majority of the population being farmers and belonging to the unorganised sector, the Centre should have cross checked before trying to digitise the economy,” said Miss Banerjee while leaving Nabanna this evening.

Meanwhile, concerned over the massive bank fraud, which has been linked to unmanned ATMs, a worried state consumer affairs department today set a 15-day deadline for all banks, nationalised and private, to set in place security in all the ATMs in the city, failing which they will be penalised. Sadhan Pandey, consumer affairs minister, announced this today after a meeting with bankers over the issue.

“We have asked the authorities of all the banks present in the meeting to put in place security in all the ATMs within 15 days, failing which they will be taken to task,” Mr Pandey said. With the number of customers of various nationalised and private banks falling victim to cyber fraud continuing to grow, amidst fear and uncertainty, the state consumer affairs department today held a meeting with the authorities of various banks and the police to chart out a blueprint to ensure security at all the ATMs and restore faith in the banking system.

“We had called a meeting of the bank authorities and the police to discuss the insecurity at the ATMs after the arrest of two Romanians from Delhi in connection with the massive cyber fraud entailing around Rs 20 lakh. Representatives of around 12 banks had joined the meeting. Chalking out a blueprint to ensure and strengthen security at all the ATMs was the main focus,” said the minister.

The arrest of two Romanians over the siphoning of money through a skimmer device apparently planted at certain ATMs of Canara Bank, PNB and Kotak Mahindra bank had not only exposed the lack of security, the glaring negligence in their monitoring system too came to light. “Keeping this in mind, the representatives of the Reserve Bank of India, who were present at the deliberations, asked the authorities of the banks present there to put in place anti-skimmer mechanism by March 2019 at all the ATMs.

And all the banks have been asked to link up with the local police stations so that any foul play can be prevented,” the minister added. He also stressed on the need to hold meetings among the banks every three months to enhance coordination among them.

“It is very important as the banks do not coordinate with each other and such meetings will facilitate exchange of views between them with regard to various aspects of the banking system including security,” Mr Pandey said.

SIT seeks court permission to quiz kingpin

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kolkata Police probing the Rs 20 lakh bank fraud has moved a prayer before a local court to grant them permission to interrogate the alleged kingpin, a Romanian who is now behind bars at Tihar jail.

They have identified three more suspects who are on the run and issued a lookout notice for them. Meanwhile, adding further to the panic among bank account holders, Kolkata Police today said that the device recovered from an IndusInd Bank ATM at Kasba in South Kolkata on Sunday was a “skimmer”, quoting an FSL test report.

The SIT probing the bank fraud involving ATMS of the two nationalised and one private banks in Kolkata, has intesified its focus on the alleged kingpin, Cornel Traian Mirea, a Romanian, who is now languishng in Tihar jail. The SIT hopes to question him on the Rs 20 lakh bank fraud that had affected more than 100 customers of different nationalised and private banks.

A source close to the antifraud wing of Kolkata Police said that a prayer seeking permission to question Mirea had been moved at a local court, adding that permission is expected to be granted by tomorrow.

Mirea, according to sources close to the antifraud wing of Kolkata Police, is thought to be the mastermind behind the entire operation after the two Romanians arrested by the SIT from Delhi recently disclosed his name during questioning. Dumitru Calin and Oprea vidiu Simon are said to have revealed that they used to get a commission on every fraud they managed to pull off with the skimmer device.

In another development, the SIT identified three more suspects in connection with the bank fraud and has issued a lookout notice for them. Meanwhile, Kolkata Police quoting an FSL test report, has informed that the device recovered from the Kasba ATM of IndusInd bank was a “skimmer”.

“The FSL test report on the device recovered from the IndusInd Bank at Kasba confirmed it to be a skimmer device. We are on the lookout for the local youths, who were seen on the CCTV faaotage that was recovered from the ATM kiosk,” Praveen Tripathi, joint police commissioner (crime), said.

On Sunday, police had recovered the skimmer from the ATM at Kasba after a person who went to withdraw cash had found the device fitted to the ATM card swipe mechanism.