Police have arrested four persons, all residents of Mumbai and Thane in Maharashtra, on charges of allegedly using cloned cheques to withdraw around ₹6 lakh from the bank account of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust in Ayodhya.
The fraud took place in September and an FIR was lodged under Sections 471, 468, 467, 420 and 419 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Trust is entrusted with the construction of the Ram Mandir and the bank account was meant for collection of funds for the temple.
The four arrested persons were identified as Prashant Mahawal Shetty, Shankar Sitaram Gopale, Sanjay Tezraj and Vimal Lalla, said the police. They were arrested from the Ram ki Paidi area in Ayodhya on December 28, police added.
Senior Superintendent of Police-Ayodhya Deepak Kumar said the four hatched a conspiracy and cloned cheques. “They opened a bank account... and would receive funds into their accounts through cloning of cheques and get it cleared,” the officer said.
Mr. Kumar said investigation in the case would continue and police was still searching for other accused persons.
On September 9, Champat Rai, general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, submitted an application to the police saying that around ₹6 lakh were withdrawn from the Trust’s account through fraudulent cheques.
The matter relates to an account in the State Bank of India branch in Nayaghat, Ayodhya. The cheques for the account carry the signatures of Mr. Rai and and another member, Anil Mishra.
On September 1, ₹2.25 lakh was withdrawn from the account and the money transferred to an account in the Punjab National Bank (PNB), said Mr. Rai in his complaint.
On September 8, another sum, ₹3.5 lakh, was transferred again to the PNB through a fake cheque and fake signature, he added.
The transactions happened even though the named cheque slips were still found in the Trust’s cheque book, he had said.
