Pune: A young man from Pondewadi, Ambegaon, has been struggling to recover ₹45,000 after mistakenly transferring the amount to the wrong account.
Pramod Chandrakant Ponde, who holds an account with HDFC Bank, had intended to send the money to a friend, Archana Santosh Ghode, through the bank's net banking app.
However, the money ended up in an account held by Radha Suresh Solunke at the State Bank of India (SBI), Parli Vaijnath branch.
The incident occurred on May 18, 2024, when Ponde initiated the transaction, unaware of the error until his friend informed him that she had not received the funds.
Within ten minutes of realizing the mistake, Ponde lodged an online complaint with HDFC Bank, expecting swift action. The bank, however, failed to respond with the urgency the situation demanded.
Despite multiple follow-ups over the next few months, HDFC Bank did not direct the SBI branch to freeze Solunke's account. As a result, in August, Solunke withdrew the ₹45,000, compounding Ponde’s frustration.
Ponde, who has been using the same mobile number to send money to his friend for over three years, now finds himself helpless, having exhausted all his options.
“The mobile number I sent the money to has been in use by my friend for years. This has never happened before. I have every right to demand that the bank return my hard-earned money,” Ponde said.
Bank officials have acknowledged the oversight but stopped short of taking responsibility for the delay.
Ramesh Pawar, Operations Head of HDFC Bank’s Manchar branch, stated that the bank had sent official communication to SBI, but the account was not frozen. “We are trying everything to recover the amount,” Pawar stated while speaking to journalist from Sakal Media Group.
