In a bank fraud, two alleged conmen impersonated a corporate director, discussed a Rs 1 crore fixed deposit with bank officials to gain their confidence and later persuaded them to transfer Rs 22.56 lakh to a fraudulent account using forged company letterheads and deceptive email IDs.Delhi Police have arrested two accused in connection with the fraud and seized assets worth Rs 2.5 crore in the present and linked cases, including 101 gold coins, 17 gold chains, gold jewellery, cash and a brand-new Mahindra Thar Roxx.One of the accused, Vinay Yadav, 36, a resident of Loni in Ghaziabad, was also found to be a proclaimed offender in another case and had allegedly been absconding for seven years. The second accused, Anil Sehgal, 65, a resident of Noida, was also arrested following an extensive technical investigation.According to the police, the case came to light after the branch manager of Bank of India, Rajendra Place, lodged a complaint regarding the fraudulent transfer of Rs 22,56,922 from a corporate account.The incident took place on August 5, when a caller posing as Deepak Malhotra, a director associated with multiple corporate entities maintaining accounts at the bank branch, contacted a bank official.The caller initially discussed the creation of a fixed deposit receipt (FDR) of Rs 1 crore. He subsequently called again, claiming that other banks were offering higher interest rates, in what police suspect was an attempt to establish credibility and make the interaction appear genuine.After a gap, the caller contacted the bank official once more, claiming that a payment had to be made from the company’s account but its cheque book had been exhausted. He requested that the transaction be processed through email.The caller then sent an email from an address closely resembling the company’s registered email ID. The email carried a forged payment request on the company’s letterhead, directing the bank to transfer Rs 22.56 lakh to another account.When bank officials sought the mandatory indemnity documents, the caller allegedly pressured them by claiming that similar transactions had been processed previously and stressing the urgency of the payment.The bank subsequently processed the RTGS transfer on the basis of the fraudulent instructions, police said. An e-FIR was registered at the Cyber Police Station in Central District under Sections 318(4), 319 and 340 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.The investigation revealed that the defrauded amount had been transferred to a mule bank account maintained with Bandhan Bank in West Bengal. The mobile number used to contact the bank officials and the technical information associated with the email were linked to false identities, making it difficult to identify the alleged perpetrators.A team analysed telecom records, digital evidence, communication details and movement-related inputs to establish leads.The investigation eventually led the police to the two accused, who were apprehended from Loni in Ghaziabad and Noida, respectively.Police said the probe had also revealed links with associates operating from West Bengal and Bihar.