Ludhiana cops: 2 Patanjali employees, transporter booked for ₹4-cr fraud

The first-information report (FIR) was registered at the Moti Nagar police station, Ludhiana, following a complaint by Ashish Rana, a representative of Patanjali from Haridwar

The local police on Saturday registered a case against two employees of Patanjali Ayurveda company and transporter for allegedly defrauding the firm of ₹4.10 crore by submitting fake transportation bills, officials said.

The accused were identified as Pankaj Khurana of Sita Nagar, Ankush Grover of Chander Nagar, and transporter Jagatpreet Singh of Gurpreet Nagar in Daba. Khurana and Ankush had been with the company for years, managing its Ludhiana office and allegedly conspired with the transporter to execute the fraud. (HT Photo)

The first-information report (FIR) was registered at the Moti Nagar police station following a complaint by Ashish Rana, a representative of Patanjali from Haridwar, they added.

The accused were identified as Pankaj Khurana of Sita Nagar, Ankush Grover of Chander Nagar, and transporter Jagatpreet Singh of Gurpreet Nagar in Daba. Khurana and Ankush had been with the company for years, managing its Ludhiana office and allegedly conspired with the transporter to execute the fraud.

According to the complaint, the employees processed transportation bills and sent them to the company for payments to Jagatpreet.

Over the years, they allegedly submitted 288 forged bills of company products to various firms.

The company paid over ₹4 crore to the transporter, which the trio then divided among themselves, the complainant alleged. The scam came to light when the company reached out to the firms mentioned in the bills to check product sales and collect commissions and firms concerned denied receiving any such deliveries.

Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Jagtar Singh, who is investigating the case, said police have registered an FIR under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by a clerk or servant), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable securities, wills, and other documents), 468 (forgery with the intent to cheat), 471 (use of forged documents or electronic records), 472 (creation or possession of counterfeit seals, plates, or other tools used for forgery), 473 (making or possession of counterfeit seals, plates) and 120- B (criminal Conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.