India, June 1 -- The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has arrested a 58-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh in connection with a Rs 5.20 crore cheque forgery case involving fraudulent withdrawals from a private university's bank account. The accused, identified as Sudama Narware, a resident of Betul in Madhya Pradesh, was apprehended from his hometown on Thursday and brought to Delhi for further investigation, police said. According to investigators, Narware played a key role in a sophisticated financial fraud that targeted a nationalised bank and resulted in the illegal withdrawal of crores of rupees through forged cheques. The case was registered on the complaint of a senior bank official, who reported that unidentified individuals had presented three cheques in August 2019 seeking withdrawal of a total of Rs 6.25 crore. Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW) Subodh Kumar Goswami said two of the three cheques were successfully cleared, resulting in the transfer of Rs 5.20 crore into two separate bank accounts. One account belonged to a Vadodara-based firm in Gujarat, while the other was linked to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Betul. Payment against the third cheque was stopped before it could be processed. Also Read - Saket building collapse: Rescue operation in final stage; FIR lodged, owner at large Police investigations revealed that Narware was the secretary and authorised signatory of the NGO that received a portion of the fraudulently withdrawn funds. Further scrutiny of financial transactions showed that he subsequently transferred Rs 2.07 crore from the NGO's account to the Vadodara-based firm. Investigators also found that Rs 4.16 crore was later routed to Delhi through the bank accounts of five alleged shell companies. During the probe, investigators discovered that although the original cheque series had been legitimately issued by the bank, the cheques were never delivered to the private university. Fraudsters allegedly exploited this gap by creating forged cheques from the same series and using fabricated signatures to withdraw the funds. Also Read - Drastic drop in temperatures keeps Capital cool; AQI 'satisfactory' at 98 "The cheques were issued but not delivered to the university. Our investigation suggests that forged cheques carrying fake signatures were used to illegally withdraw the money," an investigating officer said on condition of anonymity. Police said Narware had been evading arrest since January 2020 and was eventually declared a proclaimed offender by a court. His arrest marks a significant breakthrough in the long-pending investigation, officials said. He has been booked under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Officials said three other accused have already been arrested in the case, while at least two more suspects remain absconding. The investigation is ongoing, and efforts are underway to trace the remaining accused and uncover the full conspiracy behind the multi-crore fraud.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.