Ex-diplomatic staffer files police plaint against sister

CHENNAI: An 80-year-old former woman diplomatic staffer has lodged a complaint that her sister had cheated her of Rs 60 lakh over a period of 40 years and demanded legal action against her.

Mallika Moorthy, a widow, who has no children, said she met Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan and lodged a complaint demanding action against her sister and take steps to get her money back. She said the cheating came to light in 2014 after her mother’s death. She had been staying in Malaysia since 1967 and could not come to Chennai for the last five years due to old age, she added.

Mallika said that she had left for Malaysia with her husband, who was working in Special Branch Police Headquarters, in 1967. “I worked in Indian Embassy in Malaysia, Secretary to High Commissioner and Ambassadors in Diplomatic Mission, besides having worked as UN Organisation (UNDP/APDC) Secretary from 1984 to 2014,” she added. She also said the Indian government has given her the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) Status.

My Sister Shantha, a former employee of Canara Bank, had cheated me of about Rs 60 lakh by using my bank account after including her name in it as joint account holder and by forging my signature, she said.

On a number of occasions, money has been withdrawn from my account as Self/Cash/Transfer etc., she added. In one of the instances, the statement of my NRI Account in the IOB Arumbakkam Branch in Chennai showed that Shantha had taken a loan of Rs 19 lakh and has withdrawn it, she said.

“Since 1976, I used to send money for my ailing mother but Shantha swindled it,” she said. It came to light only in 2014 after the death of my mother. As I could not travel due to old age for the last five years, I had been asking her to return the money. But she was not responding to any of the calls for the last five years, Mallika said.