Police uncover CSR funding scam in Navi Mumbai
The Turbhe MIDC police are on the lookout for unidentified accused who forged documents of Hexaware Technologies and approached NGOs and charitable trusts across the country with a proposal to provide Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds worth over INR 100 crore in the name of the IT firm at Mhape, reports The Hindu.
The scam came to light in November last year, when Gunjan Methi, a company secretary with the multi-national company, received an email from Kanta Sengal Memorial Charitable Trust in Gurugram. Suresh Kumar, one of the trustees of the organisation, told Methi that he had received an email from Hexaware Technologies, claiming to provide CSR funding worth INR 100 crore to 240 crore to the charitable trust.
Using aliases
Amar Desai, senior police inspector from Turbhe MIDC police station, said, “Kumar’s mail also mentioned that one Deepak Kumar, who claimed to be associated with Hexaware Technologies, had approached him. Methi then told Kumar that the email he received was a fake one and her company had no plans of providing any CSR funding. Soon, Methi kept receiving several calls and emails from various trusts and NGOs asking her whether the company would be extending CSR funding.”
The officer said that Methi studied the fake emails forwarded to her and learnt that the accused was using her signature and the letterhead of the company to forge the proposals to provide CSR funds. Desai said, “The firm has an open website with a few uploaded documents. The accused downloaded those documents and used the letterhead, stamp, and signature of Methi and forged the proposal letters. With the help of the Cyber Cell, we are trying to locate the IP address of the accused.”
On April 7 this year, Murlidhar Gaur from Shanti Samaj Seva in Uttar Pradesh contacted Methi and told her that Rohit Kumar and Jiginder Lakra of Hexaware Technologies had contacted him on April 2 with a funding proposal. Mr. Gaur said that the trust went on to pay INR 7.50 lakh as fees for receiving the funds. Gaur said that he had contacted Methi to check when the funds would be released. Methi then told Gaur that no such employees were associated with Hexaware Technologies and the company had made no proposal to provide CSR funds.
Pan-India scam
Desai said, “Till now, the accused seem to have approached at least seven trusts from New Delhi, Beed in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. There are chances that the accused approached more trusts.” The police said that the accused used aliases such as Deepak Sharma, David, Sangeeta Manchanda, Rohit Kumar and Joginder Lakra while contacting the trusts and NGOs.
Methi said, “We have filed an FIR on April 25 to bring the vile and reprehensible people behind this to justice. We will extend our full cooperation to the police to help nab the accused.” The accused have been booked under Sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 66 (C) (identity theft) of the Information and Technology Act.
Source: The Hindu
