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Journalism of Courage
An attempt to withdraw Rs 92.99 crore from the account of the Central government’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Scheme by submitting a forged cheque at the HDFC bank in Pune was foiled on Tuesday after the manager at the bank filed an FIR in the case.
Ashwin Mukund Deshpande (40), branch manager, HDFC Bank, lodged the first information report (FIR) in the case at the Sinhagad police station.
Based on his complaint, police have booked Narhe-based Utkarsh Constrowell Company along with Pratap Annarav Patil of Hadapsar and Dattatraya Karampuri of Solapur among others under sections 420, 465, 467, 511 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Assistant police inspector Shankar Salgar, the investigating officer in the case, said, “Utkarsh Constrowell Company has been taking up projects like Metro and road construction. The company has a current account in HDFC Bank. On August 7, 2021, a cheque of MGNREGA’s account at State Bank of India (SBI), Jawahar Bhavan, Ashok Marg, Lucknow, carrying an amount of Rs 92,99,00,000 and issued in the name of this company, was deposited at HDFC bank in Narhe. But HDFC bank staff found the cheque suspicious.”
HDFC officials then approached the SBI in Lucknow to confirm whether such a cheque had been issued. SBI confirmed that the cheque is bogus. The bank was also told that SBI did not have any cheque-payment facility for the MGNREGA account. Following this, HDFC authorities have registered an FIR. “We have initiated a probe into this matter. No arrests have been made so far,” said assistant inspector Salgar.
