3 held for duping HMDA of Rs 5.87 Crore

Hyderabad: Three persons have been arrested on the charge of fraudulently encashing Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) cheques by forgery.The alleged forgery, from year 2008 till March 15 this year, has caused a loss of Rs 5.87 crore to HMDA, the police said.

As per an official release, L Shankar, a former Field Officer of M/s Sai Security Services, misappropriated a sum of Rs 5.87 crore with the help of his two associates - Y Vijaya Mohan Krishna, an Accounts Officer with HMDA, and Raju Ahmed working as Field Officer with M/s Suraksha Security & Maintenance Services.
The trio conspired with each other to cheat the HMDA every month by tampering and forging the cheque amounts issued to outsourced agency, Sai Security Services where Shankar worked as senior Field Officer till 2008, stated the release.

Police have recovered total property and documents of properties worth about Rs 5 crore, which is 86 percent recovery of total misappropriation of Rs 5.87 crore.

Shankar, after allegedly tampering with the cheques of Sai Security Services by altering the digits and words, used to deposit the forged cheques into pseudo bank accounts in the name of Sai Security Services, that were opened with different banks, police said. Though the fraud was detected by HMDA Accounts Officer Vijaya Mohan Krishna, he colluded with Shankar and helped continuing this fraud and concealed the fraud from the visiting auditors and internal auditors.
Source: PTI