An FIR has been filed against some employees of the agency that handles ticket sales for Statue of Unity
Police have registered a case against some employees of a cash collection agency for allegedly diverting Rs 5.24 crore generated from the sale of tickets from the Statue of Unity in Gujarat’s Narmada district, a police official said on Wednesday.
The imposing Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel monument, also called the Statue of Unity, has been one of the top tourist attractions in the state since it was inaugurated in October 2018.
The money raised for a year and a half by the management of the Statue of Unity in Kevadia in the Narmada district was turned over to the cash collection agency, hired by a private bank in Vadodara, the official said.
Some agency staff members allegedly failed to deposit Rs 5,24,77,375 into the bank accounts of the Statue of Unity authorities, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Vani Dudhat.
The manager of the private bank filed an FIR at the Kevadia police station on Monday night against unidentified people working with the cash collection agency, he said.
One case was registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, he said, adding that no one has been arrested so far.
Meanwhile, the Statue of Unity authorities said Wednesday that the bank has deposited Rs 5.24 crore into its accounts.
“The administration of the Statue of Unity is not involved in this matter. It is between the bank and its cash collection agency. The bank has already deposited the amount in our accounts,” said a senior administration official.
According to the FIR, the bank has been taking over the agency’s services since 2003 for the collection and deposit of cash.
The bank had appointed the same agency to collect the cash generated from ticket sales at the Unity Statue and other connected tourist attractions and deposit it in the two bank accounts of Unity State authorities, the police official said.
“In a recent audit, State of Unity officials found a mismatch in the amount mentioned on the cash deposit receipts, delivered by agency staff after collecting the cash, and the actual cash deposited in bank accounts between November 2018 and March 2020 “she said.
A detailed investigation revealed that the agency staff allegedly failed to deposit Rs 5.24 crore, after which the banking authorities submitted the FIR, it said.
“We need to check various agency records to find out who was involved in the cash collection exercise in Kevadia,” the official said, adding that no one has yet been identified or arrested.
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