CHENNAI: The Chennai Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Greater Chennai Police have registered a case and begun a probe into the cyber fraud in which Rs 22.1 crore was siphoned from bank accounts maintained by Tamil Nadu Rural Development Department.

The fraud, which took place in the third week of September, came to light after the department lodged a complaint on November 3, police sources said.

Preliminary findings showed that Rs 14 crore was transferred from Mandapam Panchayat Union in Ramanathapuram, Rs 3.1 crore from Nagapattinam Panchayat Union and Rs 5 crore from Dharapuram Panchayat Union in Tirupur. Police suspected that cybercriminals had breached the online portal used to transfer funds to rural local bodies.

The department’s back-end financial operations were maintained by a private bank. Investigators suspected that the perpetrators had accessed the bank’s website, stolen login credentials and diverted the funds to unauthorised bank accounts in north India. Police are examining whether overseas hackers or an international cybercrime network had links to the fraud.

The special teams were tracing the beneficiary bank accounts and analysing digital records to establish how the portal was accessed. Investigators were also examining whether insiders had assisted the perpetrators. Further investigations are underway.