New Delhi, Dec 31(DC): Three days after RBI stated that banks lost Rs 41,167 crore to fraud in 2017-18, Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that the "watchman" is looting India by helping his close friends, who default on hefty bank loans and flee the country.

The Congress party president tweeted, "He (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is working as a thief by portraying himself as the watchman of the country. He gave away Rs 41,167 crore of bank money to his close aides.)

The Congress president claimed that with the amount of Rs 41,167 crore, the central government could have waived off the loan of farmers of three states, opened 40 AIIMS and run MNREGA for at least one year without any hassle.

The RBI on Friday issued a report, saying that fraudsters in the financial year 2017-18, looted Rs 41,167.7 crore from the banking system, which is 72 per cent more than the previous year's Rs 23,933 crore.

In the year 2017-18, a little less than 6000 cases of bank fraud were reported as against 5,076 in the previous fiscal.

"Current figures show that the cases of fraud are increasing for the last four years - 2013-14 saw cases of fraud worth Rs 10,170 crore. In comparison, this figure has increased four times in 2017-18. In 2017-18, however, fraud related to off-balance sheet operations, foreign currency transactions, deposit accounts, and cyber-activity is important. Banks reported more cyber fraud during the year, loss of Rs 109.6 crore in 2,059 cases in 2017-18, compared to 423 crore in the previous year with 1,372 cases", the RBI report read.