The great Indian gamble: How suspended BOI officer pulled off a ₹16-crore bank fraud

ASuspended cant of bharat ship's officer is accused of siphoning ₹16.10 crore from vulnerable client accounts, and gaming nearly every rupee on share market wagers, crypto transactions, and internet games.The man at the centre of it all, 32-year-old Hitesh Singla, was arrested in a moving train in Gujarat after a dramatic multi-state hunt last week. He is now in judicial custody.The fraud came to light when Singla suddenly stopped showing up at the office, and internal audits started raising red flags over discrepancies in accounts. The Bank of India, spooked, tipped off the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which promptly filed an FIR in early August. That set off a nationwide hunt.How the accused pulled off the ₹16-crore fraud"> ₹16-crore fraud?As per the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Singla systematically conducted the fraud from May 2023 to July 2025, manipulating internal banking systems to settle fixed deposits, PPFs, senior citizen schemes, and even dormant accounts.He targeted customers and account holders who were vulnerable, such as senior citizens, minors, the deceased, and those who hardly checked their balance.Also Read | ₹23 crores to cyber criminals">Biggest digital arrest scam: How I lost ₹23 crores to cyber criminalsThe funds from the shut accounts were rerouted to Singla's individual accounts at the State Bank of India. The investigators claim the transfers were divided into smaller instalments, obscuring the scale of the fraud and allowing it to go under the radar for months.But instead of stashing it away, he invested close to 90% in speculative futures and options trading, risky crypto tokens, and online gambling sites."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," an ED official said.Also Read | 9 fake UN-marked number plates among arrested Delhi ‘godman’ Chaitanyananda's assetsEven ₹1.5 crore, which Singla had parked temporarily with a friend in Mumbai, was later recovered and also gambled away. When the authorities raided her house, the money had disappeared.Classic story of addictionPeople who probed the crime stated that Singla's financial ruin was an addiction classic as initial victories tempted him into playing a larger and larger game, and when losses started mounting, he doubled his bets out of desperation."He got trapped in a vicious cycle of trying to recover losses with bigger bets, only to sink deeper every time," said an official.Investigators confirmed Singla lost the highest amount -- more than ₹11.5 crore -- in stock market futures and options trading, an area infamous for tempting investors with fantasies of high rewards but ultimately leading to devastation. The rest was invested in crypto trading and online gaming-betting websites.Meanwhile, the ED is scrambling to identify any recoverable assets. But early signs are grim. Singla reportedly comes from a modest background with no known substantial properties or investments to offset the massive fraud.Both the CBI and ED are now conducting parallel investigations.