BENGALURU: A former officer of Oriental Insurance Company has been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment for siphoning off ₹5.3 crore to claim winnings from a fraudulent lottery. A special CBI court in Dharwad also imposed a fine of ₹52 lakh on the convict.
The accused, T. Pradeep (40) of Kannickal, Idukki district, Kerala, was an administrative officer (accounts) at the public sector insurer’s Dharwad branch when the fraud occurred in 2013–14.
According to the prosecution, Pradeep fell for scam emails claiming he had won a UK lottery and was required to pay fees and charges to release the prize. Initially, he used his own savings and borrowed from relatives, but when the fraudsters demanded larger sums — citing “customs seizure” of the prize money at Delhi airport — he diverted company funds.
Special public prosecutor Shivananda Perla told the court that Pradeep transferred ₹5.3 crore from Oriental Insurance accounts into multiple bank accounts in Nagaland and Manipur opened under fake identities. To conceal the fraud, he allegedly manipulated and altered monthly bank statements.
The misappropriation was uncovered by the company, which lodged a complaint with the CBI’s anti-corruption bureau in Bengaluru. Investigators examined 66 witnesses and produced 350 documents during trial. However, no money was recovered, as the fraudsters had already withdrawn the entire amount.
Judge Zareena delivered the verdict on Monday, bringing to a close a case that highlighted both the lure of online lottery scams and the risks of insider misuse of financial authority.
