Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad police on Wednesday registered a case of cheating and forgery against 36 people, including 25 directors of a credit co-operative society in Khed taluka, for misappropriating Rs6.53 crore from account holders and the society between 2014 and 2018.The fraud was revealed after a govt audit in 2018, following which the accused moved various courts, even approaching Bombay high court, to avert action against them. Ultimately, HC issued an order to register a case against for involvement in funds misappropriation.A case was registered on April 15 this year against the directors and others, including pigmy agents (daily deposit collectors or field representatives) of the co-operative credit society, with the North Chakan police, under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by bankers), 420 (cheating), 467, 468, 471 (forgery) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides relevant sections of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act.Assistant police inspector Tanaji Kadam of the North Chakan police said, “Over four years, the accused from the credit co-operative society and others created fake records of gold, vehicle and personal loans. They also withdrew money from banks for the society’s operations but did not make entries in the register, instead using the funds for personal reasons.”He added, “The accused further forged signatures of the society’s account holders and withdrew money from their accounts. They showed that they invested funds in the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana, but there was nothing to substantiate this in the society records. Finally, the audit exposed that the accused had duped the society and account holders collectively of Rs6.53 crore.”
