The Hindu : Man held for siphoning off funds

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Man held for siphoning off funds

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 24. A former accountant employed with the Thrift and Credit Society of the National Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Limited (NAFED) has been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police on charges of siphoning off Rs. 35 lakhs from the Society funds. One of his accomplices has also been arrested.

According to the police, a case against the accused, Hem Chander alias H.C. Srivastava, was registered by the EOW in 2003 following complaint from the management. Chander was arrested from his hideout at New Ashok Nagar in East Delhi on February 20 and has been remanded to seven-day police custody. At his instance, his alleged accomplice, Vinod Kumar, has also been arrested.

It came to light that Chander, who used to keep shifting his base, was presently living under the fake name of Rajesh Sharma. Earlier, he had worked as the accountant of the Society from 1993 to 2000. The police came to know that Chander had issued drafts worth Rs. 10.9 lakhs in favour of non-members, most of whom were friends and relatives. He withdrew Rs. 20.2 lakhs to be disbursed to the members but the entire amount was misappropriated. More than Rs. 3.4 lakhs, which were paid by the members as repayment of the loans, were not deposited in the Society account and were instead utilised by him.

Chander also told the police that he had married two women and had begun indulging in the fraudulent activities to meet their demands.

The police said Vinod was found to have helped Chander in opening an account with the Punjab National Bank at Maharani Bagh in South Delhi. The account was opened in the fake name of Suresh Chand and Rs. 2 lakhs were deposited in that account.

The address mentioned in the Bank account was non-existent. The police managed to trace out the address only after conducting raids at Agra, Shikohabad, Ferozabad, Jasrana and various places in Delhi.

Further investigations are on to trace other accomplices of Chander and more arrests are likely.

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