A gang of scammers used cloned checks to withdraw Rs 6 lakh from the bank account of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust intended for the collection of funds for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a police officer said Thursday.
Ayodhya Deputy Inspector General Deepak Kumar said the amount was withdrawn by cloned checks of Rs 2.5 lakhs and Rs 3.5 lakhs. He said that a First Information Report (FIR) has been registered against unknown persons regarding the complaint from the secretary of the trust, Champat Rai.
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Kumar said that the fiduciary authorities have confirmed that the original checks with the same serial numbers used to withdraw the money are with them. He said the fraud was discovered when Rai received a verification call from the bank on Wednesday afternoon when the third cloned check of Rs 9.86 lakh was placed for settlement. He said authorities later discovered that two cloned checks had been used to withdraw money on September 1 and 3.
He said the FIR has been registered under sections 419 (spoofing) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 467 (valuable security forgery), 468 (forging by cheating) and 471 (using checks falsified as originals).
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Kumar said that an initial investigation has suggested negligence by the banking authorities, as well as the involvement of bank employees, as the serial numbers of the checks were compromised and that allowed the scammers to prepare the clones. He said the cloned checks contained fake signatures from Rai and another member of the trust.
Kumar said that the withdrawn amount was transferred to an account at the Punjab National Bank. “A police team is investigating the money trail to track down the scammers and individuals involved in compromising the details of the trust bank account to uncover the fraud involved in the crime.”
Vishva Hindu Parishad regional spokesman Sharad Sharma called counterfeiting a serious problem. “Stern measures must be taken against those involved in this check cloning. The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust has also taken the matter seriously. “
The trust was formed to oversee construction of the temple after the Supreme Court in November last year paved the way and ended years of litigation.
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