In a case raising serious concerns over digital banking security, Justice Vikas Mahajan of the Delhi High Court has sought responses from RBI and HDFC Bank after a customer, Manmohan Kumar, alleged unauthorized transactions worth ₹74.6 lakh from his HDFC account.

Facts:

The petitioner, Manmohan Kumar, through a writ petition, petitioned the court after fraudulent debits were made from his account in HDFC Bank between December 20 and 23, 2024. The petition claimed that a virtual debit card was created without consent, and the registered mobile number and email ID were illegally changed to unauthenticated credentials — an act the petitioner had no knowledge of or control over.

It was the petitioner’s case that he discovered the fraud only after a visit to the Model Town branch of the bank to request for his account statement. Shockingly, the contact details associated with his account had been modified to a suspicious email ID (loveofhdfc@gmail.com) and what appears to be the bank’s own customer care number, suggesting a deeper security breach.

Upon the discovery of this transaction, Mr. Kumar filed a complaint and HDFC reversed the amount in January. However, they later debited the entire amount citing that the transaction was OTP authenticated, and no deficiency in service had occurred. A complaint to the RBI Ombudsman also yielded no relief, by taking the side of the bank they stated that HDFC was not at fault.

The petitioner alleges that the bank failed to explain how such changes were made without consent and insists he never shared his credentials or OTPs.

By way of the writ petition the petitioner seeks to quash the RBI Ombudsman’s closure order dated March 31, 2025, initiate a court-monitored inquiry into the lapses by HDFC Bank, reverse the debits made to the petitioner’s account, and ensure strict enforcement of RBI’s 2017 guidelines on customer protection in unauthorized electronic banking transactions.

Taking note of the seriousness of the allegations, the court has issued notice to RBI and HDFC Bank, seeking their responses, and for reversal of the fraudulent transactions. The matter is now listed for hearing on July 29, 2025.

Case Title: Manmohan Kumar v. Reserve Bank of India & Others
W.P.(C) No.: 8101/2025 & CM Appl. 35427/2025
Court: High Court of Delhi (Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Vikas Mahajan)
Order Date: May 30, 2025

Advocates For the Petitioner (Manmohan Kumar): Mr. Siddharth Batra, Mr. Rhythm Katyal, Ms. Archna Yadav and Ms. Shivani Chawla