Noida authority duped: Con men swapped letters to bank sent via bike messenger with forged ones

The Noida authority has directed the finance department staff to visit banks where they have fixed deposits to ensure that all documentation is in order and the funds are secure

The Gautam Budh Nagar police team investigating the fraudulent withdrawal of ₹3.9 crore from the Noida authority’s account at the Bank of India earlier this week said on Friday that it was negligence on the part of the Noida authority that allowed con men to perpetrate the fraud.

Investigators said they have almost cracked the case and at least four more arrests are likely soon. (Representative Image)

Investigators said they have almost cracked the case and at least four more arrests are likely soon.

On being asked whether any staff member from the Noida authority or the Bank of India are involved in the crime, additional deputy commissioner of police Shakti Avysthi said, “We cannot deny the role of anyone. But we are yet to reach to a final conclusion as we are still collecting information from the authority and the Bank of India. The staff at these places have their versions, which need to be corroborated. We are very close to arresting all persons involved in this fraud. More arrests are likely by tonight (Friday) or tomorrow.”

He said they have found during probe that a person named “Mannupola” and another man sent arrested suspect Abdul Khadar, 40, to Bank of India to make these fraudulent transactions.

“Khadar told us that Mannupola asked him to make these transactions and promised him ₹10 lakh to execute these transactions. But when they refused to pay ₹10 lakh, he got angry. We are working to identify these people,” said Avysthi.

Meanwhile, the Noida authority has directed the finance department staff to visit banks where they have fixed deposits to ensure that all documentation is in order and the funds are secure.

“We are being extra cautious to make sure all our funds are safe,” said Swatantra Kumar, chief finance controller of the Noida authority.

The authority has invested nearly ₹4,800 crore in fixed deposits at the Union Bank of India, , Canara bank, Indian Bank and HDFC, among others, and it needs to verify if these FDs are original.

The authority also detailed to the police the sequence of events from time it decided to invest ₹200 crore in Bank of India.

According to the authority, on June 13, it informed banks that it wants to invest ₹200 crore in fixed deposits and invited tenders. On June 15, seven banks submitted their bids citing rate of interests. The finance department finalised the Bank of India bid because it did not have any prior investment with that bank.

According to rules, the authority cannot keep all investments in one or two banks and has to invest in a mix of nationalised and private banks. After due approvals, the finance department on June 21 drafted letters for account opening and assigned three account holders -- the chief finance controller, finance officer and account officer.

In the first letter, they shared the details of email address and contact details required for account opening. In the second, they listed the authorised signatories and sent both letters via a bike messenger to the bank as is the procedure, said officials.

Police believe that these letters were intercepted by con men and substituted with forged ones, naming the arrested suspect Abdul Khadar, 40, as the sole signing authority.

“The biggest error was that the two letters sent by bike messenger did not reach the bank. The con men swapped the letters with forged letters, naming Khadar as the sole authorised signatory, fooling the Bank of India,” said an investigator, asking not to be named

On June 22, one of the con men, posing as Bank of India representative visited the authority, met officials and informed that the account has been opened.

In the meantime, Khadar, 40, posing as an accounts officer with a fake identity card, went to the Bank of India and gave them a different set of email ids and other communication details. On June 23, bank sent the account number and other details to the email id given by the con man, who created a fake email account, similar to a Bank of India id, and communicated the account details to Noida authority.

On June 26, the authority sent a cheque and letter to HDFC in Sector 16 and Indian Bank in Sector 61, directing them to transfer ₹100 crore each to the Bank of India account.

On June 27, one of the con men visited the authority and handed over fake FD papers to the authority. On June 28, the authority sent these FDs to its locker for safe keeping.

On June 30, Khadar, posing the authorised accounts officer, transferred ₹3.9 crore from the authority’s account to his three accounts opened in the same bank.

Later, authority officials got a bit suspicious about the interest rate offered and checked the same with the Bank of India. That was when the bank realised that something was amiss.

On July 3, the con man again reached the bank to transfer ₹9 crore.The bank staff immediately informed the authority, leading to the fraud coming to fore, said officials.