A vegetable vendor from Baruipur allegedly posed as a railway employee posted at Budge Budge station and duped a nationalised bank of Rs 34 lakh.

Subrata Maity, the accused, was arrested from Mallikpur in Baruipur, South 24-Parganas, late on Monday.

A team of officers from the detective department of Calcutta police rounded up Maity by tracking the mobile number he had used while applying for a loan from the bank.

“Maity said during interrogation that he was helped by his friend Sankar Halder, also a resident of Mallikpur. He, too, has been arrested,” said an officer of Calcutta police.

“Maity had planned all the moves to near-perfection so that when a team of officials from the bank reached Budge Budge station for verification, they found him sitting on a chair, writing something.” the officer said.

The two friends, originally from Sagar Islands in South 24-Parganas, had applied for the loan almost a year ago, sources said. They floated a realty company by the name of Messers Nirman Construction, claiming to promote projects, with an office address near Budge Budge railway station. But the projects remained only on paper.

A preliminary probe revealed that Maity would hang around the office of the station manager of Budge Budge and over time the staff became familiar with him. A few banners and posters in the name of “Nirman Construction” were also put up.

Maity and Halder opened an account in the company’s name at a branch of the nationalised bank in Gariahat. “The two applied for a housing loan, seeking money to buy a flat from Nirman Construction. When the loan was granted, the cheque went to the account of Nirman,” an officer said.

Bank officials told police that when they visited Budge Budge railway station for verification, they found that several railway employees at the station knew Maity. The loan application of Rs 38 lakh was granted. Soon after the amount was deposited in the bank account, Halder switched off the mobile number provided in the loan application and withdrew the money.

The accused allegedly defaulted on loan repayment after a couple of months. “A search revealed the two had submitted a fake address,” the officer said. A complaint was lodged. Bank officials who had disbursed the loan and verified the application will also be questioned, the officer said.