Delhi Police arrest man in ₹5.20 crore cheque forgery case

Police said he was involved in targeting a national bank, which resulted in the fraudulent withdrawal of funds from a private university’s bank account.

New Delhi:

Police said their probe revealed he transferred ₹2.07 crore from the NGO to the firm in Vadodara.

A 58-year-old man who was allegedly involved in a cheque forgery case worth ₹5.20 crore was arrested by the economic offences wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police, officials said on Saturday.

Police said the man is a resident of Betul, Madhya Pradesh. He was arrested in his hometown on Thursday and brought to Delhi. Police said he was involved in targeting a national bank, which resulted in the fraudulent withdrawal of funds from a private university’s bank account.

Deputy commissioner of police (EOW) Subodh Kumar Goswami said that the case was registered on the complaint of a senior official of a national bank. The complaint stated that unidentified suspects produced three cheques to withdraw ₹6.25 crore in August 2019. While two cheques were cleared and ₹5.20 crore was transferred into two different accounts – a firm in Gujarat’s Vadodara and an NGO in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul. The payment against the third cheque was stopped.

“He was the secretary and authorised signatory of the NGO,” said Goswami.

Police said their probe revealed he transferred ₹2.07 crore from the NGO to the firm in Vadodara. Later, ₹4.16 crore was transferred to Delhi into the accounts of five alleged shell firms.

“Our probe revealed the cheques were issued but were not delivered to the university. Our probe suggests the fraudsters used forged cheques of the same series and used fake signatures to withdraw the amount illegally,” said an investigator, who asked not to be named.

Police said the suspect was arrested under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Officials said that the suspect was declared a proclaimed offender (PO) as he had been evading his arrest since January 2020. Three suspects were earlier arrested in the case, and at least two others are still absconding, said DCP Goswami.