LUCKNOW: Fraudsters on Wednesday swindled off Rs 6 lakh from the savings accounts of Shree Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, meant for the collection of funds for the construction of Ram temple, with the trustees being completely unaware of the transaction.
The trust has accounts in the State bank of India in Ayodhya.
When informed, temple trust general secretary Champat Rai lodged an FIR at the Kotwali police station in Ayodhya stating that Rs 6 lakh was withdrawn from the bank account of the trust using fake cheques. The FIR was lodged late on Wednesday night.
The district police have set up two teams of IT cell along with local cops to probe into the matter. The police teams were scanning the CCTV footage of the SBI branch in Lucknow from where the money was transferred.
The cybercrime experts of UP Police have also alerted about the breach of the bank account.
As per the sources, the amount of Rs 6 lakh was withdrawn from the trust account in two transactions of Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh each conducted through cloned cheques from Lucknow.
The incident came to light when another cheque worth Rs 9.86 lakh was submitted at a Lucknow branch of State Bank of India following which the bank contacted Trust for confirmation.
Ayodhya DIG Deepak Kumar said investigations are underway.
The trust account with number 39200 235 062 was opened at the Naya Ghat branch of SBI in Ayodhya. Trust general secretary Champat Rai and another trustee Dr. Anil Mishra are co-signatories of the account.
Under the first transaction, Rs 2.50 lakh was transferred to Punjab National bank through cheque no 740799 on September 1. The second transaction pertaining to Rs 3.50 lakh was also transferred to Punjab National Bank through cheque no. 740 800 on September 8.
When the swindlers tried another transaction of Rs 9.86 lakh through cheque no 740798, the bank called up trust general secretary Champat Rai informing him of the details of the cheque and asking him if the payments has to be transferred.
As per the trust sources, when Rai checked with the checkbook he had all the original cheques with the above-mentioned numbers. The police and the bank authorities inferred that the swindlers used cloned cheques to withdraw the money.