Gujarat’s Narmada district police have booked personnel from a private cash management company in various sections for alleged theft of Rs 5.25 million from the daily collections of the Statue of Unity. The Indian Express reported Wednesday.
The complaint, filed by the manager of a Vadodara branch of HDFC Bank at the Kevadiya local police station, names Writer Business Services Private Limited for allegedly diverting money between October 2018 and March 2020. Kevadiya police searched The complaint and an investigation into the matter began, according to the newspaper.
The complaint claims that HDFC Bank, which provided services for offline ticketing and parking fees to the Unity Statue management, had outsourced the offline ticketing home cash pickup facility to Writer Business .
“The receipt of the received cash is issued to the administration of the Unity Statue and is periodically reconciled with the cash deposit entries made in the bank account,” said an official of the tourist site. The Indian Express.
During a ticket comparison, the Statue of Unity auditors noted a discrepancy between the receipts submitted by Writer Business, on behalf of HDFC Bank, and the actual tickets.
“An amount of Rs 5.25 crore was missing, although the receipts in our register showed that the HDFC Bank agent had received the amount,” said an official from the Unity Statue. “The issue was raised with the bank, which proactively launched an investigation.”
Narmada District Collector DA Shah, who is also the statue’s executive director, said a committee was formed comprised of officials from the district administration, HDFC Bank and the unity statue. Shah said the committee examined the records and concluded that the cash was turned over to the bank.
He also said that HDFC Bank had hired Writer Business for the cash collection and that the management of the resort had nothing to do with it.
“HDFC Bank is solely responsible for this transaction,” Shah said. The Indian Express. “Then, according to the agreement, the bank has credited the amount in the account of the Statue of the Unit along with the interests, while they will resolve their dispute with their agent.
Kevadiya Police Superintendent Vani Doodhat said the Unity Statue administration has provided them with daily receipts and transaction vouchers, which are under review. “We will call the agency staff [Writer Business] to question them after identifying the employees who handled the money during that period, “he added.
The agency has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, which include cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust.
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