‘Nearly ₹20 mn may have been siphoned off from LU’s a/c’

LUCKNOW : Funds to the tune of nearly ₹2 crore (20 million) may have been siphoned off from Lucknow University’s account through cloned cheques during the period from April 11, 2018 to May 1 2019, police said on Monday.

This is nearly the double of what was estimated by the LU administration last week when it claimed that ₹1,09,82,935 (10 million approx) were withdrawn fraudulently in 11 transactions from its account in a nationalised bank branch located on the campus.

The fraud came to light during an annual audit of LU’s accounts.

“We have come to know about two more fraudulent transactions of around Rs 10 lakh each. These transactions have not been mentioned by the varsity administration,” said a police official privy to the investigation in the matter. There may be more such transactions, he added.

According to police, the transactions were done in the names of fake firms in Delhi, UP and Bihar. Of the 11 fraudulent transactions, five were done by one M/s Divya Electricals registered in New Delhi.

Another firm, KK Constructions, is registered in Ballia district of UP while five others are registered at different locations in Bihar. After police verification, it was found that these firms were not operating from the registered addresses.

“We have sent two teams, one to Delhi and another to Bihar to identify the people behind the fraud. The teams have questioned some people and are close to making arrest,” said superintendent of police (trans-Gomti) Amit Kumar.

MASTERMIND ‘HIRED’ BANK A/C TO SIPHON OFF FUNDS

The bank accounts in which the money – siphoned from LU’s account was deposited – were ‘hired’ by the mastermind,

claimed investigators.

“The mastermind used to hire bank accounts for these transactions. Such accounts were held by various people who were paid a small percentage of the funds by the mastermind. And this was done to evade arrest,” said cops.

“The money withdrawn fraudulently from LU’s account was transferred to various other accounts to make the money trail complex,” they added.

Police teams are taking help of at least five different banks to track the money trail and reach the real mastermind behind the fraud.

INVOLVEMENT OF BANK, LU STAFF SUSPECTED

Investigators believe that the fraud was committed by a single mastermind who set up these fake firms and withdrew money from the LU’s account.

“It is difficult to execute such kind of fraud without involving people from the bank and the university. The accused knew every detail of the varsity’s cheques, which he cloned to withdraw funds.

It is difficult to get such cheques processed on multiple occasions without help from bank,” said an investigator.