The UTI had also named the two banks The Prime Co-operative Limited (Sub Jail Road) branch and United Western Bank Limited (Kelapith Road) branch as accused.

According to the UTI, cheques of two UTI schemes were encashed by people who had fraudulently opened accounts in the banks. Athwalines PI Gopal B Darji, who is investigating the case, said that the people being interrogated also included employees of the two banks.

Giving information on the case, P H Sagathia, UTI Assistant General Manager, told Express Newsline that the two deposit schemes, namely Monthly Income Scheme - Bonus (MISB-93) and Monthly Income Scheme - Growth (MISG-91), matured in July 1998, after which the Mumbai branch sent cheques to the investors. Thirty

such cheques were fraudulently encashed in the two city branches, he said.

Of these 18 cheques of MISB-93 were encashed in the Prime Co-operative Bank Limited and the rest of MISG-91 were encashed in the United Western Bank Limited, he added.

``The cheques specifically mentioned that they were account-payee, non-negotiable and non-transferrable and were issued in the names and addresses of the investors,'' he said. UTI had further written on the back-side of the instrument that the banks were supposed to verify the genuinity of the cheque, if an account was opened after it was issued, he added. ``There definitely seems to be negligence on the part of these banks,'' he claimed.

Most of the people, whose cheques were fraudulently encashed here in the city, were investors from Uttar Pradesh, he said. It was only after these investors complained of not having received payments that the matter had come to light.

Sagathia added that these fraudulently encashed cheques were sent by registered post to the addresses of the investors and it was for the police to find out how they were encashed in the city and by whom.

According to Darji, although it would take time in ascertaining the facts, there was definite reason to believe that the banks were negligent and thus at fault. But he added that the present case and an earlier bank fraud case had no connection.