In a recent development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has revealed that 32-year-old Hitesh Singla, the suspended Bank of India (BOI) officer accused of siphoning off ₹16.10 crore from 127 customer accounts.
Virtually No Proceeds Of Crime Left
Moving ahead, Singla has squandered nearly 90% of the stolen money in high-risk stock market trades, crypto tokens, and online betting platforms while describing a tale of greed and reckless gambling.
Interestingly, the money trail had all but evaporated by the time the law caught up with Singla—with his arrest on a moving train in Ahmedabad last week.
The ED official said, “There is virtually no proceeds of crime (POC) left. The accused lost heavily in speculative futures and options, online gaming-betting and crypto. The remaining was spent on personal expenses.”
These findings leave little for investigators to seize or victims to hope for by way of restitution.
According to the investigators, Singla has already lost the maximum chunk—over ₹11.5 crore—in stock market futures and options trades.
This is a notorious segment that is already infamous for luring investors with dreams of high returns but often ending in ruin.
The remaining amount went into crypto trading and online gaming-betting platforms.
Initially he had parked ₹1.5 crore with a female friend in Mumbai, hoping to keep it safe but eventually pulled back all this amount and sunk into online gaming and betting.
By the time ED searched her residence, which was last week, the money had already vanished.
Officials noted, “He got trapped in a vicious cycle of trying to recover losses with bigger bets, only to sink deeper every time.”
Singla’s gamble followed a classic pattern of addiction—initial wins luring him into riskier positions, followed by mounting losses that drove him to pour in more of the siphoned money in a desperate attempt to recover, according to the agency.
How Did This Happen?
The fraudulent siphoning began in May 2023 and continued until July this year as per the ED’s findings.
To start with, Singla, a staff officer posted at a city-based BOI branch, allegedly manipulated internal systems to close fixed deposits, Public Provident Funds (PPFs), senior citizen savings schemes, and even dormant accounts without requisite authorisation.
He seems to have specifically targeted what officials describe as “vulnerable profiles”—accounts belonging to senior citizens, minors, deceased customers, and inactive holders.
This was comparatively easy as they are less frequently monitored, allowing him to operate undetected.
He was diverting the proceeds from these closed accounts into Singla’s personal accounts with the State Bank of India.
These transfers were broken into smaller installments, camouflaging the magnitude of the fraud and helping it slip under the radar for months, said the investigators.
The ED official mentioned, “Through this modus operandi, Singla defrauded the Bank of India and its customers of ₹16.10 crore, causing substantial loss to the institution, damaging its reputation, and eroding public trust.”
Presently, ED is now working to identify and attach assets equivalent to the ₹16.10 crore proceeds of crime.
But, the conceded task may prove difficult as Singla comes from a modest middle-class background and is unlikely to own substantial property of his own, said the officials.
Adding, “In the absence of traceable funds, we will look at immovable or movable assets, but early indications are that he may not have anything of comparable value.”
These findings raise the grim prospect that victims—BOI and its account holders—may face permanent losses.
At present, the CBI and ED are now running parallel probes—the former focusing on corruption and breach of trust, the latter on laundering of diverted funds.
In the coming months, we can expect these agencies to file charge sheets, though the prospects of financial recovery remain slim.
