Chhattisgarh ACB/ EOW arrests SBI chief manager for siphoning ₹2.78 crore from internal account for high-risk trading

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau/EOW has arrested a chief manager of State Bank of India (SBI) in Raipur for allegedly siphoning off over ₹2.78 crore from an internal office account of the bank and diverting the money into crypto, options and commodity trading.

The case was registered on Dec 17 on the basis of a written complaint from SBI’s regional office, Raipur. Alleged accused Vijay Kumar Aakhe was posted as branch head of SBI’s SCAB in Raipur – described by the Bureau as a “highly sensitive and critical branch” responsible for managing and supplying cash to other SBI branches.ACB/ EOW has booked Aakhe, under sections 316(5), 318(4), 61(2), 338, 336(3), 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Sections 13(1)(a), 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).Investigators conducted a search at Aakhe’s residence and said they seized key documents and electronic evidence linked to the fraud.According to the Bureau, in this position he gained control over an important internal office account – a “suspense account” with no fixed upper limit – and allegedly treated it like a “blank cheque” to fund his trading addiction.ACB/ EOW chief Amresh Mishra said that over a period of about eight months, Aakhe allegedly carried out a series of fake entries and unauthorised transfers, diverting a total of ₹2,78,25,491 from the internal suspense account into his own and his wife’s personal bank accounts.

The probe so far suggests that Aakhe systematically bypassed the bank’s Red Flag Indicator (RFI) system, which is designed to generate alerts on abnormal transactions, he added in a statement.“The RFI period was 30 days. Before that window closed, the accused would roll over the amount by passing multiple fake entries, so that no alert was triggered in the system,” investigators have said.In the initial months, he allegedly made 3–4 fake entries; later this increased to multiple entries to keep the fraud hidden.

None of his colleagues or supervisory officers detected the bogus postings at the time, which the Bureau says indicates “a lack of due diligence” and is now itself a subject of investigation.According to the press note issued by ACB/ EOW, the siphoned funds were then routed into speculative markets.Officials allege that Aakhe invested the misappropriated govt/bank funds in cryptocurrency, options and commodity trading through platforms such as the Dhann app and Delta Exchange, thereby committing criminal breach of trust with public money.Finding “sufficient evidence” against the officer, the ACB arrested Aakhe on Dec 18, 2025, and produced him before the competent court.The agency has said that further interrogation is underway to identify any other officials who may have been complicit or negligent, and to fix responsibility for supervisory lapses that allowed the alleged fraud to continue for months without detection.