The fraudulent withdrawal came to the notice of Gurbhajan Singh Mann, who resides in the posh Tilak Marg area in the capital, in July and he had approached police then but a case was registered three days ago, a senior police official said.
Mann, who has served as Director of PSB and Bank of Punjab, informed police that he had found that Rs 22.87 lakh has been withdrawn from his account in Punjab National Bank's (PNB) Connaught Place branch without his knowledge.
The withdrawals came to light when he applied for a bank statement and found that Rs 22.87 lakh was withdrawn from his account with series of withdrawals between June 21 and 27, the official said.
The money was withdrawn from branches outside Delhi also.
Mann told police the cheques used for these withdrawals were of a series which he never received. He said he had applied for a fresh cheque book in December last year but he never got one.
In his complaint, Mann claimed he used to withdraw Rs 40,000 per month for the last so many years. But, he alleged, "suddenly there were continuous withdrawal of huge amounts which were from other branches, including outstation branches and not noticed by the bank.
He also claimed that the signatures which appeared in the cheques were not his.
The official said the registration of the case came following a thorough investigation and the matter was discussed with senior officials.
Investigators suspect that somebody managed to steal the cheques from the bank and encashed it later.
"All angles are being investigated. We are probing whether any bank employee was involved in the crime. We are not ruling any possibility. Investigations are on," the official said.
A case under sections 420 (cheating), 379 (theft), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 467 (forgery of security papers), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using forged documents as genuine) has been registered.