The Bankster (Ravi Subramanian)

by Ravi Subramanian

  ‘I would love to have one, but unfortunately I don’t.’ The banter between Karan and Kavya was flirtatious but for Hemant, who had no clue about their relationship, it was a bit strange.

  ‘Hemant, I had asked for the Cochin CCTV footage to figure out who had withdrawn money from the account of Asia Logistics from the branch in Cochin this morning.’ Hemant nodded.

  The video started playing on Kavya’s laptop. The security camera was placed high up on the ceiling, behind the cash queue and facing the cashier. So when a customer walked towards the cashier his back was towards the cashier. The idea was to encapsulate every single thing happening at the cash counter. If ever a customer made a suspicious move, the security camera would capture it.

  Like most other branches, GB2 opened its branches at 9.00 a.m. As per the transaction report, the cash withdrawal from the Asia Logistics account had occurred at 10.06 a.m. Kavya kept forwarding the CCTV footage till the overlaid clock in the video showed a time of 9.57 a.m. and then she played back at normal speed. The cash counter was empty.

  9.58 a.m.: The first customer, a lady walks in. She walks up to the counter, hands over some documents and leaves.

  ‘Looks like a normal transaction,’ Karan observed.

  9.58 a.m.: Three customers walk up to yellow line before the cash counter, waiting for their turn. Their backs are clearly visible. But their faces are turned towards the counter. The cashier is not at the counter.

  ‘Probably gone for a comfort break,’ Karan whispered, and suddenly wondered why he was whispering. It was not as if the people in the branch would hear them.

  9:59 a.m.: The cashier returns to his station and one customer walks up to the counter. The other two patiently wait for their turn.

  10.00 a.m.: The cashier again gets up from his station, probably to check on something to do with the cheque. Returns in thirty seconds. He hands over the cheque to the customer, who turns it around and signs it. The cashier hands him the cash and the customer turns. His face is now clearly visible.

  ‘Is he the guy?’ Karan was excited. ‘No Karan, our transaction took place at 10.06. Its only 10.02 now,’ Kavya pointed out.

  10.02 a.m.: The next customer walks up to the teller counter. The cashier is busy doing something on his computer and doesn’t even look at the customer. The customer keeps a cheque on the counter, which the cashier picks up. He says something to the customer. The customer answers back.

  ‘Why don’t they build security cameras which capture the audio too? Will make life so easy for us. Who the hell knows what they are saying?’ Hemant, like a true fraud control guy, wanted to know everything. ‘Life’s never perfect, dude.’ Hemant just smiled and returned to the video feed.

  10.03 a.m.: After a brief chat, the cashier gets up and moves away. He has the cheque in his hand.

  ‘Probably getting it authorized by his supervisor,’ Kavya looked at both Hemant and Karan. ‘Hmm,’ both of them nodded simultaneously.

  10:04 a.m.: The cashier returns. Goes though the normal routine of making the customer sign on the back of the cheque. Pulls out cash from a drawer below the counter and passes on bundles of cash to the customer, who puts it in his bag

  10:05 a.m.: The customer leaves and the next one walks up to the counter.

  ‘Aaaaah there is our guy,’ said Karan. ‘Fraud bastard!’ exclaimed Kavya. Hemant remained silent.

  10.06 a.m.: The customer patiently waits for the cashier to look up from his system and take his cheque. The cashier smiles at him. Accepts the cheque. Looks at the back of the cheque. It’s already signed. He pulls out bundles from a cash trunk kept next to his table and hands over cash to the customer.

  10.07 a.m.: The customer picks up the cash. Counts the bundles. Puts them in his bag and turns.

  ‘Freeze it there!’ shouted Karan.

  ‘That’s our man.’ Kavya had a grin on her face, as if the issue had been resolved.

  ‘Can we zoom in on his face?’ At Karan’s request, Kavya took a screen shot and zoomed into the image. It was a bit hazy, but the face could still be seen.

  ‘Who the hell is he?’

  ‘I don’t know. We will have to figure that out.’ And then he looked at Hemant. ‘Is there any way we can figure out who this guy is?’

  ‘Not too sure Karan. But I just saw something. I’m not too sure if you guys noticed it too.’

  ‘What would that be?’

  ‘The cashier smiled at this customer. He didn’t smile at the previous two.’

  ‘What does that prove?’ asked Karan

  ‘It shows that the customer who the cashier smiled at might be a regular in the Cochin branch,’ Hemant argued. He was not convinced that this customer was a fraud. ‘We have seen multiple cash withdrawals from the Asia Logistics account from Cochin. So it’s possible that this customer is a regular.’

  ‘Yes. That’s true. But the cashier smiled and acknowledged this guy. He was also very prompt in giving him the cash. He even gave him multiple bundles without any supervisor authorization. It shows us that the cashier knows him very well. So to me, unless the cashier too is involved in this transaction, there is no way this guy is a fraud.’

  ‘But the transaction has taken place at 10.06 a.m. as per the reports. And this is the guy in the Cochin branch at 10.06.’ Kavya had a frown on her face as she explained this to Hemant.

  ‘Can I see the transaction history of the account?’ Hemant stretched out his right hand towards Kavya, who promptly handed it over to him. Hemant took a minute to read it.

  ‘Hold on guys,’ he exclaimed with a grin on his face and looked up at the two of them. ‘The transaction report shows that the cash withdrawal was at 10.06 a.m. That means 10.06 a.m. is the time when the transaction was entered into the system and authorized.’

  ‘Keep talking. . .keep talking. Don’t stop’, Karan prodded.

  ‘Karan, it means that the transaction happened before 10.06 a.m., but was posted into the system at 10.06 a.m. See this video again,’ and he played it again on Kavya’s laptop. He also started giving a running commentary.

  ‘When the second customer leaves, it’s 10.05 a.m. The third customer walks up to the counter, it’s still 10.05 a.m. The cashier is still doing something on the computer. The clock is ticking. It’s 10.06 a.m. now. The cashier is still at it. Let’s see when he looks up. . . Aahh. . .and now our friend looks up. It’s well past

  10.06 a.m., very close to 10.07 a.m. All this while our cashier was posting the large value cheque given to him by the second customer. The customer we are looking for, whose entry reflects at 10.06 a.m. is not the third but the second customer.’

  ‘Not bad Hemant. I am glad we have a fraud control guy in our team’, complimented Kavya, and that almost instantaneously made Karan jealous. They quickly rewound the tape and looked at the video image of the second customer.

  ‘Wow!’ exclaimed Hemant when Kavya froze the frame and took a screen shot of the second customer. ‘I haven’t seen a better CCTV image in ages.’

  ‘Kavya, can you please print out copies of this picture. Let’s see if we can figure out who this guy is?

  ‘Why don’t we ask the Cochin branch?’ Kavya recommended.

  ‘Let’s do that. Hemant, will you please take charge of this?’

  ‘Sure Karan.’

  Karan picked up one of the pictures printed out by Kavya and gave it a long and hard stare, as if memorizing the pixel positions in the picture. ‘Who are you my friend? Who are you? If I get to you, I will get to the bottom of this mystery. Come on, come on. Show yourself up.’

  ‘Karan,’ Kavya interrupted his soliloquy. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘Nothing sweetheart, was just wondering who this guy is.’

  ‘We will figure that out. Hemant is on it. By the way, do you want to look at the personal files of the RMs or shall I return them? HR came asking for it. They have to lock it up in a fireproof safe before they leave for the day.

  ‘Tell them that there is a bigger
fire burning here, bigger than anything they’ve ever seen. Don’t return any files. Let them be here.’ Karan never liked his thought process to be disturbed.

  ‘Yes, my lord and master,’ Kavya retorted, sarcastically.

  37

  Vienna

  Afternoon of 31st January 2012

  Johann Schroeder and his team made a dash towards Mohrengasse, a block away from Hotel Nestroy, a popular hotel on Rottensterngasse. Mohrengasse was a fairly peaceful street, with some classy residential buildings. Just off the upmarket and posh Mohrengasse was a long stretch of a narrow lane called Odeongasse. A stretch which symbolized the urban microcosm, in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt district, was where Schroeder and his team were headed. An overcrowded locality, it was the probably the only part of Vienna which was an unpleasant mix of tiny apartments and offices. It was also, to a certain extent, the underbelly of most of the city’s limited criminal activities.

  Schroeder’s car screeched to a halt in front of a building. Adjacent to that building was a low rise—a three-storied building called Jewish Towers. A scowl formed on Schroeder’s face when he saw the name. The four cars stopped in a pattern they were used to. One stopped ahead, one behind Schroeder’s car, and one went around the building to the back as a cover in case anyone tried to escape from behind. They seemed to know their job very well. A back-up team was stationed at Hotel Nestroy, just in case help was required.

  Schroeder got down from the car and walked towards Jewish Towers. No one stopped them. They entered from the ground floor and walked straight to the lift. Next to the lift was a staircase. Schroeder decided to use the staircase, as he had to go up to the second floor. The building seemed unoccupied.

  Under normal circumstances, Schroeder would have left it to his team to manage, but this was a high profile case and he had to make sure that it was quickly resolved. The Austrian police had been acknowledged as the best in Europe, and Johann Schroeder wanted to keep it that way. It was the only way for him to succeed Gerhard Purtsi when the latter retired from his current role in six months.

  The stairwell was not lit well, but it was good enough for the team to carry out the operation. Stealthily, they climbed up to the second floor. The door to the unit they were looking for was locked. Outside was a board that said: Union of Jews Foundation. The entire floor was deserted. It was quite strange because the building itself was a mix of private residences and a few office units. In fact, from the look of it, some residence units were being used as an office. The local laws in Vienna permitted such usage.

  ‘Open it,’ said Schroeder, looking at one of the officers. An officer got to work and in no time the door was thrown open and they entered the office.

  ‘There is no one here!’ cried Schroeder.

  ‘Yes sir.’

  ‘Looks like it’s been cleared up very recently,’ Schroeder commented as he looked around the room.

  ‘It looks pretty clean to me sir,’ the Chief agreed. ‘Maybe we should watch it and see if someone comes along.’

  ‘Frederick, look here,’ said Schroeder to him, pointing towards something on the floor. It looked like a patch on the carpet. Schroeder walked close to it, bent down and looked at it himself. ‘See this patch?’ Frederick nodded. Schroeder looked around, surveying all the tables in the room. ‘You will find one such patch below most of the tables in this room, a patch where the carpet seems trodden and weighed down.’

  Frederick went closer. There was indeed a patch below most of the tables wherein the carpet was crushed. ‘It’s as if something was kept on the carpet for a long time.’

  ‘Yes Frederick. This is where their computers were. The weight of the CPU has crushed the carpet, leaving a patch below all the tables. They have shifted out every single CPU in this room. Monitors are there on every table, so are the connecting wires, but where are the CPUs?’

  ‘They have taken them and evacuated,’ said Frederick.

  ‘Yes, and it looks like they evacuated in a hurry. They have taken everything with them. They didn’t have time to remove just the hard disk, so they took out the entire computer unit,’ said Schroeder. He looked around. There was nothing else in the room. No paper, no files. . .nothing. Johann looked at the others in the room and said, ‘Pack up guys, you won’t find anything here.’ He knew the search was going to be futile. ‘Send a forensic team to check for any traces.’

  As he was heading outside, he stopped at the reception, a couple of feet from the main door. A six-inch high glass screen separated him and the receptionist’s desk. He bent over the frosted glass partition and picked up the phone lying on the desk and pressed the redial button. This was the litmus test of any forensic operation. The tone persisted. All phones were wiped clean. All the contacts, all the incoming call details and the outgoing numbers were erased. He was beginning to get worried. Chasing the telephone route would be futile. The calls would have been routed through a complex maze of exchanges and it would be virtually impossible for them to trace the actual number called. What he was seeing here was an organized crime syndicate. If there was nothing to hide, why was everything wiped clean?

  A worried Schroeder bent over the glass again to place the telephone instrument back. As he stretched himself over the glass counter, something caught his eye. He walked around the glass to the receptionist’s side, bent down and picked it up. ‘So we were right. She was here, but why?’ He pocketed what he had picked up and quietly walked back into his waiting car and drove back to his office.

  Once in his room, he opened his top drawer and pulled out the Café Coffee Day bill that Richard had brought to him and spread it out on the glass on top of his table. The address was very clear. The lead particles were still stuck to the paper. Had they got the address slightly earlier, they could have reached on time. Ruing this fact, he pulled out the piece of paper he had picked up from beneath the reception and spread it out alongside the other one. It was the same handwriting. The same text. In fact Richard had brought him the copy—the paper that had the impression. The original, on which Harshita had actually written down the address, was what he had picked up from the Union of Jews Foundation’s office. It would have fallen out of Harshita’s hands when she was being chased or maybe being killed. In the process of clearing out, this had been missed. Every criminal leaves behind a clue. This piece of paper was all they had.

  38

  GB2, Mumbai

  Late evening, 31st January 2012

  ‘Is there anything else you need Karan? I might be leaving in the next half an hour.’ When Jacqueline walked in and said this, it suddenly struck Karan that the day was coming to a close. So involved was he with what was going on at GB2 that he had not even told Andy, his boss, that he wouldn’t be coming in for the day. Andy would be furious. ‘It’s fine. When I tell him that I was away for a cause, he will understand,’ he said to himself.

  ‘We might be needing a few things Jacks. Is it possible for you stay back with us? Just in case. I’m sorry about it, but we are hard-pressed for time and I really don’t know what might come up. We only have time till tomorrow evening.’

  ‘No problem Karan. I will be at my desk. Let me know whenever you need me.’

  ‘Once everyone has left Jacqueline, we would like to inspect Raymond’s desk to see if there is something we can find which can be of relevance to this case.’

  ‘I will organize that. Duplicate keys etc.’

  ‘Thanks Jacks.’ Jacqueline just smiled and disappeared.

  ‘Sweet lady,’ this time Karan said this purposely to irritate Kavya.

  Hemant walked in just as Kavya shot Karan a dirty look. ‘No luck on the Cochin Guy. The branch does not know who he is. He came with the cheque, they apparently checked with the Bandra branch, who told them that this customer was a Vikram Bahl reference. So they quietly paid up even though it was a high value transaction.’

  ‘We know that Hemant. What we want to know is whether they know the person who withdrew the funds or not?’

>   ‘No they don’t.’

  ‘Hmm. . .dead end again.’ When Kavya said this, Karan got really worked up. ‘Guys we have twenty-four hours to go. I am sure we can arrive at a theory, even if we can’t conclusively prove what we are investigating. As of now we don’t have even that.’

  ‘Yes baba,’ Kavya was irked by this aggressive outburst from Karan. ‘I was just stating a fact. Was I talking about giving up?’

  Karan smiled. ‘I am sorry. I guess it’s just the end-of-day syndrome.’ Kavya smiled in return. This was what she liked about Karan. He was always quick to apologize and make up.

  ‘Maybe we should speak to Nikhil and see what he has to say on this account. Now that we know that Asia Logistics was a front account for organized fraud, let’s find out what went wrong? How did such an account get opened? Maybe we will also get insights into the death. . .or rather, murder of the cashier. I think it is worth the fifteen minutes. What say?’

  ‘Agreed. Let’s call him. Ask Jacqueline to tell him that Indrani wants to meet him.’

  ‘Cool,’ and Hemant disappeared.

  ‘I have gone through two personnel files of the relationship managers. Another half an hour and I should be through all of them.’ Karan was quick to bring them back on course.

  ‘Sure.’

  Indrani came in once in the next ten minutes and seeing them working away seriously, she disappeared.

  ‘Kavya,’ called out Karan after a prolonged period of silence. ‘I have seen six personnel files and there’s already a pattern emerging.’

  Hemant too walked into the conversation.

  Karan continued, ‘In all the six files, I have seen something strange. In fact, a couple of things are strange.’

  ‘As in?’

  ‘Like every other large organization, GB2 also performs a formal, third party verification on its employees. They hire an external agency to do the background checks and to validate the information provided by the employees in their résumés. And this is done around the time that they are hired into the organization. As far as I know, GB2 used to do its verification through an external agency called Matrix.’