3 held over FD fraud targeting Noida Authority

Noida, Jul 11 (PTI) Police here on Tuesday arrested three people allegedly involved in fraudulently transferring over Rs 3.80 crore and attempting another illegal transaction of over Rs 9 crore from a bank account of the Noida Authority, officials said.
    The police launched an investigation in the case on July 5 after an FIR was lodged at the Sector 58 police station on the basis of a complaint by the Noida Authority, which functions under the Uttar Pradesh government, the officials said.
    The amount transferred was supposed to be in a fixed deposit (FD) account of Rs 200 crore of the Noida Authority, which had opened a new account with the Bank of India in its branch located at Sector 62 here.
    "Three persons have been arrested today in connection with the FD fraud case of the Noida Authority. They have been identified as Sudhir Chaudhary, Murari Jatav and Rajesh Babu. Two fake FD documents, four forged letters of Noida Authority and a bank opening account have been seized from them," Additional DCP (Noida) Shakti Mohan Avasthy said.
    He added, "Rs 5 lakh which were found in the bank accounts of these accused have been frozen. Some more of their associates involved in this fraud have been identified and efforts are underway to nab them soon."
    The FIR has been lodged under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (all related to forgery), 120B (party to criminal conspiracy) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by banker).
    In the wake of the fraud, the Noida Authority last week said it had released an amount of Rs 200 crore on June 23 for the fixed deposit in the branch of Bank of India located at Sector-62, Noida and papers for the FD were also made available to the authority.
    "After an FD is made, no amount could be withdrawn, as per the rules, even after this, without any order from the authority, an amount of Rs 3.80 crore was paid by the bank to three persons," the Noida Authority said in a statement.
    "As soon as this fact came to the notice of the authority, an FIR was lodged against the Bank of India at the local Sector-58 Police Station and investigation is being done by the police. A written assurance has been given by the bank that it will make the entire amount (Rs 200 crore) available to the authority as soon as possible," it added.
    The Noida Authority said it has not suffered any financial loss, nevertheless a three-member committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Additional Chief Executive Officer (M) to investigate the entire episode.
    The police are probing the role of bank officials and Noida Authority officials also in this case, a senior officer said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)