Here’s how two school boys from Bihar became crorepatis overnight

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Two school boys from Bihar’s Katihar district woke up to find themselves richer by Rs 967 crore. While one of the boys saw Rs 62 crore credited to his account, another boy’s bank balance turned out to be Rs 905 crore, temporarily placing him among India’s 15 richest people, thanks to a software glitch in the local branch of a Gramin Bank. One of the boys, a standard six student from Naya Tola, Azamnagar, said that he had gone to the local bank to check his bank balance, as he needed some money to buy his school uniform, the India Today reported.

“I had to buy school uniform and related things, so I took my Aadhaar card to the bank and checked my account balance. It showed Rs 905 crore in my account,” he was quoted as saying by India Today.

Another boy, whose account was credited with Rs 62 crore, told the media that he went to the local customer service point of the bank to check his account balance and he was awestruck to find the exorbitant balance.

“I didn’t know what to think, how this happened. I went home and told my mother,” said the boy.

According to the Hindustan Times, both the schoolboys, from Katihar’s Pastiya village, hold their accounts in Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank (UBGB), which is a regional rural bank in Bihar.

According to the District Magistrate of Katihar, Udayan Mishra, the excess amount in the accounts of the two schoolboys was a result of a software error and no sums had been transferred to them by the bank.

However, the parents of the children complained that the bank even deducted the original balance amount in the accounts. The father of one of the boys complained that there was around Rs 1200 in the account and Rs 1000 was withdrawn. So there should be a balance of Rs 200 but it shows zero. He requested the bank authorities to restore the original balance in his son’s account, the India Today reported.

Official response

India Today quoted the DM as saying, “When we got to know that crores of rupees have been transferred to these kids’ accounts, we contacted the branch manager of the bank, who looked into the matter. Due to a software problem at the main branch in Patna, printouts of their account statements showed these huge amounts. I’ve been told that the issue has been resolved and when the account statement was checked again, there were no abnormalities in the balance.”

The report also quoted the UBGB, district coordinator, Sanat Kumar as saying, “We’ve investigated the matter thoroughly. Asit Kumar had Rs 100 in his account while Gurucharan Vishwas had Rs 128. There is no instance of Rs 960 crore being deposited to anybody’s account at our Bhelaganj branch. The whole thing is fake.”

According to the Hindustan Times, the parents of the two schoolboys have pleaded to the authorities to let them keep a fraction of that amount.

Earlier this year, a 30-year-old tutor from Bihar had similarly received Rs 5.5 lakh in his account, though he refused to return the money, claiming that it was monetary assistance given to him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The man claimed that he thought the money had been sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had promised the first instalment of the total Rs 15 lakh to every individual during an election campaign in Bihar.

India Today reported that the bank officials had not just withdrawn the erroneously transferred funds from their children’s accounts, but deducted extra from their original accounts as well.