Mantralaya Co-op Credit Society booked for misappropriation

Twenty-six former office bearers of the Maharashtra Mantralaya Co-operative Credit Society have been accused of cheating and misappropriating approximately ₹63 lakh. The alleged wrongdoing includes fraudulent attendance records, inflated election expenses, and unauthorized payment of personal income tax. A case has been registered against them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Mumbai: A case has been registered against twenty-six former office bearers of the Maharashtra Mantralaya Co-operative Credit Society, accusing them of cheating and misappropriating approximately ₹63 lakh from the society. The alleged wrongdoing involves fraudulent attendance records, inflated election expenses, and unauthorised payment of personal income tax.

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The case was initiated following a complaint from a chartered accountant who conducted an audit of the credit society.

“During the audit that was carried out for 2022-2023 the auditors discovered several discrepancies like extra allowance paid to 23 employees in June 2022, however it was discovered that the biometric machines were tampered during the same period. Four employees were shown present and in and out at same time when there was only one biometric machine in the society,” said the police officer.

The motive behind the manipulation was to obtain more allowances. The attendance records of 23 individuals were found to be altered.

“They have also spent around ₹36 lakh for elections expenses in 2022 which was completely illegal. They have presented some vouchers, but they don’t have the signatures of the person accepting or presenting the money, nor the name of the person accepting it. Similarly, the accused have also paid personal Income tax of some office bearers from society fund,” said the police officer.

The case has been registered against the 26 former office bearers under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 120 B (conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention), 408 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document).

The fraudulent activities are segmented into three categories: ₹25 lakh as an extra allowance, ₹36 lakh as election expenses, and ₹1.6 lakh as income tax, totaling ₹63 lakh.