The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at 67 locations in seven cities across Rajasthan and Maharashtra in connection with suspicious Rs 820-crore Immediate Payment System (IMPS) transactions at UCO Bank.

Last year, over 8,53,049 IMPS transactions took place between November 10 and 13, in which Rs 820 crore was wrongfully transferred to the accounts of over 41,000 UCO Bank account-holders.

“IMPS inward transactions initiated from around 14,600 account-holders of seven private banks were wrongfully posted in the accounts of over 41,000 UCO Bank account-holders. This resulted in Rs 820 crore being credited to UCO Bank accounts without actual debiting from the originating banks,” a CBI spokesperson said in connection with the raids.

The searches in Rajasthan and Maharashtra were conducted on people who received the money and withdrew it rather than returning it to the bank, the CBI spokesperson added.

This is the second round of searches in the case.

In December 2023, searches were conducted at 13 locations involving private individuals and UCO Bank officials in Kolkata and Mangaluru.

“During these operations, approximately 130 incriminating documents related to UCO Bank and IDFC as well as 43 digital devices (including 40 mobile phones, 2 hard disks and 1 internet dongle) were seized for forensic analysis,” the spokesperson said.

“Additionally, 30 suspects were also found and examined on the spot,” he added.