Rs 7.78 Crore municipal scam: FIR filed against two employees for alleged embezzlement

In a major corruption and financial irregularity case, a corruption probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation against a Municipality has revealed that two of its employees embezzled almost Rs 7.78 crore from funds from the municipality’s funds. The Kotwali Police registered an FIR against the accused, but have not started an investigation after a complaint from the vice-president of the municipality.

Harish Goswami, Assistant Revenue Inspector (ARI), and Bhuvan Mehta, computer operator, are believed to be the accused. The two were said to have used their official roles to make false entries on city tax accounts and defraud the public of funds.

Initial investigations indicate the accused took tax money from people but did not pay it to the government treasury. Instead, they allegedly falsified taxpayers’ receipts and online records of the civic body to hide the fraud, allowing them to siphon out Rs 7.78 crore from the civic body.

It was only after Municipal Vice-President Abhay Verma lodged a written complaint against the Police, pointing to significant money discrepancies at the City’s accounts, that the alleged scam was brought to light. Reacting to the complaint, the Kotwali Police lodged a case at midnight on several crimes and immediately started a thorough inquiry.

Now the police are looking into money records and doing an audit to find out how much may have been involved in the alleged fraud. Investigators suspect that there are other customers who may have participated in the embezzlement and other names may be unearthed if the investigation continues.

Police have started the process of tracking and arresting the suspected. The investigation is still in progress and officials will seek to recover the money lost in the scam and are looking to identify any further individuals involved in it.