Gang tries to encash Rs 15cr using forged cheque, 7 arrested
A Selvaraj
Chennai:
Police have arrested seven people, including a private firm's director and a woman, after two of them tried to encash a forged cheque for `15 crore at ICICI Bank's Mylapore branch on Monday . Police also found a cheque for $9.5million in the possession of one of the accused. Some `lawyers' barged into the Royapettah police station on Monday night and freed one of the suspects.
The bank officials had been trying to register a case against the fraudsters since Monday noon but police allegedly made them run from one station to the other, citing jurisdiction issue.
The accused were identified as Venu Sampath, a director of Royapettah-based Varaha Mines and Minerals Private Ltd, Zakir Hussain, Swathi, Prasad, Venkatesh, Balasubramaniam and Manohar.
Police said Sampath walked into the bank branch on Monday afternoon and presented a crossed cheque for `15 crore, seeking to transfer the money in favour of Varaha Mines and Minerals Limited having a current ac no. 60220550305. The transaction was being processed when Sampath asked the manager, S Balaji, for `5 crore in cash. The manager suspected something was amiss and called officials at the Puducherry branch of Berger Paints as the cheque #111349 was drown on the company's account. Balaji found the cheque was forged.
The bank's fraud investigation unit found the accused had changed the account number on the cheque using a chemical.Balaji informed police and Sampath was nabbed. Based on his confession, police nabbed Zakir Hussain and recovered a cheque for $9.5million. Subsequently , the five others were nabbed.
A bank official said police had asked them to take the accused and the forged cheque to Puducherry to lodge a fresh complaint. “It's very strange,“ said the official.
