Two accountants of Mumbai hospitals siphon off ₹5.23 crore, one held

The Bhoiwada police have arrested an accountant of Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital for allegedly siphoning off nearly ₹5

The Bhoiwada police have arrested an accountant of Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital for allegedly siphoning off nearly ₹5.23 crore from the hospital trust’s bank account. The accused used bogus signatures of the hospital’s deans and transferred money in 25 other bank accounts.

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According to police, the accused have been siphoning off money for the past 11 years and is believed to have invested the amount in lands in rural areas.

Ex-assistant accountant Rajan Rawool has been arrested on Thursday and presently in police custody, while the main accused ex-accountant Shripad Desai is still at large. “We shall soon arrest him in the case,” said Vijay Patil, deputy commissioner of police, zone 4.

The matter came to the light after a secretary in the Trust Sandhya Kamath raised suspicion over a cheque. She then got a preliminary forensic audit done. After discovering huge irregularities, she informed the concerned officials, following which, Desai and Rawool were sacked from the service last year. But as the two assured that they would return the money, an immediate police complaint was not lodged. But after waiting for five months KEM’S Dean Dr Hemant Deshmukh finally lodged an FIR with the police recently.

Desai and Rawool have been employed with Diamond Jubilee Society Trust, which was established by Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital to provide medical relief and undertake development, research programmes in health services, medicine, applied science and upgrading healthcare facilities to various sectors of the society. The trust receives government funds for medical researches, donations from foreign countries. These funds are further used for research purposes and charity for helping poor medical students.

“Since 2009, the two have been forging signatures of the KEM Hospital’s deans and indulging in misappropriation of funds. So far probe has revealed that they forged signatures of at least two deans including Dr Avinash Supe,” said inspector Sushil Gaikwad of Bhoiwada police station.

They transferred money to 25 bank accounts belonging to various people known to them. Details of these bank accounts are being obtained, Gaikwad said.

Desai and Rawool have been booked on the charges of cheating forgery, criminal breach of trust by an employee. Desai has been summoned for questioning, the police said.

“We would be investigating how they managed to hide such huge irregularities and no one noticed it. We will find out how they used to dodge the regular auditing,” Gaikwad said.

Rawool has been sent to police custody up to May 27 by a local court on Friday, Gaikwad added.