HYDERABAD:Economic Offences Wing (EOW) officials arrested Tollywood film producer Shaik Basheed on Tuesday in connection with a fraudulent transaction case involving Rs 40 crore from IndusInd Bank. Basheed, who was also a Congress nominee from the Rajampet Lok Sabha constituency in Andhra Pradesh, is accused of misappropriating funds from the account of Aditya Birla Housing Finance Limited at the bank's Mumbai branch.
Alongside Basheed, two bank employees, Kanugula Ramaswamy and Sapai Rajesh, were arrested last week. Ramaswamy, the branch manager, and Rajesh, the service delivery manager, are accused of facilitating unauthorized debit transactions without proper authorization or instructions from the account holder. The funds were transferred to various accounts, and Basheed allegedly orchestrated withdrawals and used the money to purchase two Toyota Fortuner cars, one of which was reportedly promised to Ramaswamy as a reward for his cooperation.
The fraudulent activities were discovered on July 19 when Manikandan Ramanathan, the zonal head of the bank, noticed the unauthorized transactions and filed a complaint with the Cyberabad EOW. The police have since frozen more than 10 bank accounts in Telangana. Basheed is reportedly involved in over 10 cheating cases across Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Vikarabad.