9 held for using cloned cheques to swindle funds from Himachal temple

The accused were arrested from near Bhudki area in Gyanpur of Bhadohi on Monday evening, said police.

Nine persons were arrested for allegedly cloning cheques to swindle funds from a temple trust in Himachal Pradesh.

The accused were arrested from near Bhudki area in Gyanpur of Bhadohi on Monday evening, said police. (file)

The accused were arrested from near Bhudki area in Gyanpur of Bhadohi on Monday evening, said police. A cloned cheque worth ₹2.40 crore, car and a scooty were recovered from them.

“On November 16, a cheque worth ₹2 crore 40 lakh of Baba Balak Nath Temple Trust in Himachal Pradesh was deposited in the bank account of one rug house proprietor Om Prakash Maurya and Pramod Maurya at HDFC Bank branch Gyanpur of Bhadohi district by Devendra Pratap Singh and Abhishek Pathak,” said Dr Anil Kumar, Superintendent of Police Bhadohi.

Kumar said that the bank branch manager examined the cheque and found it was cloned. He lodged an FIR at Gyanpur police station.

SP said that a police team, including crime branch sleuths, was constituted to investigate the case.

The team arrested 9 persons, including Khushnud Khan, Devendra Pratap Singh, Rahul alias Sonu alias David, Ramchandra, Vindeshwari Prasad Pandey, Yogendra Bhushan Srivastava, Dharmendra Pandey, Abhishek Pathak, and Shailesh Kumar Upadhyay.

The police team is further looking for Vicky Pandey and Vikram Singh who were also the accused in the case. During interrogation, they confessed to have making cloned cheques for cheating the people, the SP said. Further investigation is on.