A former junior clerk of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) was booked on Saturday for allegedly usurping funds worth Rs 1.4 crore belonging to the civic body while he was attached to its parks and gardens department between 2006 and 2021.
The misappropriation of funds by Dilipsinh Chauhan was allegedly unearthed in a vigilance inquiry, which showed that he had allegedly connived with the parking contractors of Ajwa Garden and also usurped money collected in connection to Sayajibaug.
According to the FIR lodged by Sayajigunj police station, based on a complaint filed of VMC Assistant Director (Parks and Gardens) Gaurav Panchal, the offence was committed between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2021, when Chauhan was appointed as a junior clerk in the department.
The FIR stated that Chauhan allegedly did not deposit into VMC’s account a sum of Rs 1.36 crore collected from projects like Sayajibaug Toy Train and Satkar Vatika, the offering box in the temple inside Sayajibaug, as well as tender and film shooting fees that were paid to the VMC by various stakeholders.
Chauhan also allegedly did not deposit the sum from ticket collection and parking fees of Ajwa Garden into the account of VMC. Further, the FIR stated that Chauhan allegedly misused the software system of his official computer to create fake receipts and forge challans of a nationalised bank to usurp Rs 1.36 crore.
It added that in an audit last September, it came to light that the income from the electric car service in Sayajibaug had been Rs 20.48 lakh but Rs 6.54 lakhs had not been deposited into VMC’s account. Thereafter, an audit of the parking fees collected from Ajwa Garden from 2010 to 2013 revealed that of the income of Rs 2.65 crore, Rs 24.60 lakh had not been deposited in VMC’s bank account. Further audits of the collection from the temple inside Sayajibaug revealed that another Rs 6.64 lakh had been siphoned.
Chauhan has been booked under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (committing forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code.
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