₹5CR FROM SALE OF STATUE OF UNITY TICKETS ‘SIPHONED OFF’

Police have registered a case against some employees of a cash collection agency for allegedly siphoning off ₹5.24 crore generated from the sale of tickets of the Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Narmada district, a police official said on Wednesday.

The monument of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, called the Statue of Unity, is a major tourist attraction in the state since it was inaugurated in October 2018.

The money collected over one-and-a-half years by the Statue of Unity management at Kevadia in Narmada district was handed over to the cash collection agency, hired by a private bank in Vadodara, the official said.

Some staffers of the agency allegedly did not deposit ₹ 5,24,77,375 into the bank accounts of the Statue of Unity authorities, Deputy Superintendent of Police Vani Dudhat said.

The private bank’s manager lodged an FIR at Kevadia police station on Monday night against unidentified persons, she said.

A case was registered under IPC Sections 420, 406 and 120-B (criminal conspiracy), she said, adding that no one has been arrested so far.

Meanwhile, the Statue of Unity’s authorities on Wednesday said the bank has deposited ₹5.24 crore into their accounts.

“The Statue of Unity management is not involved in this issue. It is between the bank and its cash collection agency,” a senior official of the management said.

STAFFERS OF THE CASH COLLECTION AGENCY DID NOT DEPOSIT ₹5 CRORE INTO ACCOUNTS OF STATUE OF UNITY AUTHORITIES, DEPUTY SP VANI DUDHAT SAID