Standard Chartered Credit Card Fraud

StanChart Credit card dues harassment suit

New Delhi (PTI): Delhi High Court has issued notices to Standard Chartered Bank and Delhi police on a JNU teacher’s petition accusing the bank of harassing him for payment of credit card dues of his deceased brother.

Justice H.R. Malhotra directed StanChart and the police to respond to the petition filed by Yogesh Sharma, an associate professor at the Centre for Historical Research, JNU, within eight weeks.

The court also asked them to file a status report before July 25, the next date of hearing.

Sharma alleged that the bank deliberately blocked payment by his brother Rakesh, who had lost his mental balance. He went missing and was found dead in Mumbai on October 18, 2004.

The teacher also accused the police of not taking any swift action when Rakesh went missing.

In his petition filed through counsel N.K. Jha, Sharma pointed out that according to the bank’s statement, in September 2004 — when the cardholder was alive — the outstanding was only Rs 7,966. But immediately after Rakesh’s death, the bank inflated the bill to Rs 95,390, he alleged. Sharma claimed that StanChart illegally transferred the bank balance towards credit card outstanding after Rakesh’s death.

Accusing the bank of using criminals to intimidate him, he said even his elderly parents were not spared.