Same account at bank makes one Hukum Singh happy, other sad

The State Bank of India branch in Alampur town of Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district opened two accounts with the same number for two persons bearing the same name - Hukum Singh and realised several months later that it was puffing up one person's account at the expense of the other. One Hukum Singh, a resident of Rurai village, was depositing money in this account, while the other Hukum Singh, a resident of Rauni village, has been withdrawing from it for the past one year

Bhopal: This comedy of errors has ended up crediting some political points to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's account, debited some efficiency points from the staff of State Bank of India in Alampur town of Madhya Pradesh's Bhind district, left one Hukum Singh smiling and the other Hukum Singh frowning.

In a coincidence, the State Bank of India branch in Alampur opened two accounts with the same number for two persons bearing the same name - Hukum Singh and realised several months later that it was puffing up one person's account at the expense of the other.

Meanwhile, one Hukum Singh thought the Prime Minister's "Achchhe Din" promise had been realised. He saw money flowing into his account at regular intervals and kept withdrawing it, saying that he thought the Modi sarkar was "putting money into my account".

"Our branch has issued same bank account number to two persons named Hukum Singh due to a clerical mistake. One Hukum Singh, a resident of Rurai village, was depositing money in this account, while the other Hukum Singh, a resident of Rauni village, has been withdrawing from it for the past one year," SBI Alampur Branch manager Rajesh Sonkar said.

"The case was detected when Hukum Singh of Rurai village checked his account on October 16 this year, and found large withdrawals. We found that Hukum Singh of Rauni village withdrew this money," he added.

Hukum Singh from Rauni, who made the withdrawals, claimed: "I thought Modi ji was giving this money so I withdrew it."

Hukum Singh from Rurai said: "I had opened this bank account in 2016 and have been regularly depositing money. I thought of a withdrawal to buy a plot of land. That's when I found someone had already withdrawn Rs 89,000 from my account."

He is yet to get his money back despite several visits to the bank.