Funds fraud probe: Police record statements of GIPE V-C, two SIS trustees

Meanwhile, a court in Pune remanded SIS secretary Milind Bhagwant Deshmukh (52) to magisterial custody on Friday. Deshmukh was then lodged in Yerawada Central Prison, police said.

Following an FIR lodged by Dr Vishal Gaikwad, the officiating Deputy Registrar of GIPE, the police had arrested Deshmukh on April 5, for alleged fraud, misappropriation and cheating of Rs 1.42 crore, between December 2022 and 2023. Police booked Deshmukh and others in the case under Indian Penal Code sections 406, 409 and 420.

A team of Deccan police station produced him before a court on Friday. Police requested for his magisterial custody, while reserving their rights to take him into their custody if required later for investigation.

Informing the court about the progress in the investigation, police submitted they have recorded the statement of GIPE’s VC. Police also said they have seized various documents from the office of SIS.

Earlier, the police had submitted that of the eight trustees of SIS, they have recorded statements of five, which include Gangadhar Narayan Sahu (66) and Ramakant Vrundavan Leka (68) of Odisha, Dinesh Ramchandra Mishra (69), Amareshchandra Tripathi (76) and Atmanand Mishra (76) of Uttar Pradesh.
On Friday, police submitted that statements of two more trustees – Damodar Anandcharan Sahu (82) of Uttar Pradesh and Premkrushna Devnarayan Dwivedi (84) were also recorded.

As per the FIR in this case, the income for GIPE, which was established by SIS in 1930, is derived from grants received from the Central and Maharashtra governments and UGC as well as tuition fees collected from students. As per UGC norms, funds from the accounts of GIPE cannot be transferred to any other bank accounts or sponsored organisations, the FIR stated.

However, without following legal procedures, Deshmukh wrote a letter bearing his signature on December 12, 2022, demanding Rs 1.5 crore from GIPE, to change “lease hold” status of the society’s land in Nagpur to “free hold”, as per the FIR Police said this letter was illegally approved and then Rs 1.02 crore of GIPE was then transferred to the account of the District Collector in Nagpur and Rs 40 lakh to SIS by cheque, for related expenses — all in violation of UGC norms.

Meanwhile, a supplementary statement of Gaikwad, recorded on April 8, revealed that an amount of Rs 10 lakh was allegedly transferred from GIPE’s account to SIS on March 1, 2024.

But it was allegedly used for paying advocate’s fees in a personal case (of cheating and forgery lodged last year) against Deshmukh, related to land owned by the Mahadev Govind Ranade Charitable Trust at Shewalewadi in Haveli taluka of Pune district.

Police said Gaikwad has, in his supplementary statement, alleged misappropriation of more funds by Deshmukh by transferring money for “lift maintenance” and other purposes at GIPE to the SIS.

Police told the court on Friday that a probe into these transactions is on. Police also submitted that a “Forensic Audit” and an expert analysis report of bank statements, ledgers, book of accounts and other documents of GIPE and SIS pertaining to the offence, is pending.