A civil contractor has filed a complaint against his accountant who allegedly siphoned off ₹2.9 crore from his company and later lodged a false complaint against him with the I-T department in an attempt to avoid returning the money.
Based on a complaint by the contractor, Suresh H.K., the Chandra Layout police, on Tuesday, took up a case against the accountant, Shivram M.R., and his brother, Santosh.
They have been charged with criminal breach of trust, cheating, and criminal intimidation.
Mr. Suresh told the police that he had contracts for various government projects. Shivram, who has been handling his financial transactions since 2009, was responsible for issuing salaries to labourers and purchasing material required for the projects. The fraud came to light when a few labourers complained to Mr. Suresh saying that they had not been paid for two months.
When he checked the accounts, he found that Shivram had withdrawn cash from the bank to disburse the salaries. Mr. Suresh confronted Shivram who allegedly admitted to pocketing the money and promised to return it. But instead of returning the stolen money, Shivram quit his job shortly after the meeting.
When Suresh got his firm audited he realised that ₹2.9 crore had been withdrawn on various dates, and the money transferred to Santosh’s account.
When Mr. Suresh confronted Shivram, the accused threatened him and said he would file a complaint with the I-T department accusing him of illegal financial transactions.
A few days ago, Mr. Suresh received a notice from the department seeking details of his business dealings.
After submitting the required documents to the department, Mr. Suresh informed officials of his accountant’s alleged fraud, and later approached the police. “Both Shivram and his brother Santosh are absconding and efforts are on to track them down,” added the police.