BENGALURU: An apartment owner at an upscale residential complex in Kothanur has filed a police complaint against past members of its unregistered association alleging misappropriation of funds of nearly Rs 90 lakh. Arinjoy Ghosh, a finance professional, has named 13 members of the Palm Beach Owners’ Association, who were at the helm during 2020-21 and 2021-22, in the complaint. The police have registered an FIR.
Purva Palm Beach has 1,325 apartments. TNIE has a copy of the complaint he filed on July 14 at the Kothanur police station. The police initially merely received his complaint on July 6 and dissuaded him from seeking an FIR. He then met DCP North East Laxmi Prasad, who ordered the Kothanur inspector to file the FIR within a week.
The case filed under Sec 406 of IPC names past secretary Kritin Mohana and former treasurer Kankan Ghosh as accused 1 and 2 along with 11 others. Documents of 130 pages have been submitted. “The total amount taken by the unregistered body through misappropriation, cheating, fraud and breach of trust works out to Rs 88,63,719,” he said.
He said nearly Rs 8.5 crore is collected annually by the association. “A maintenance sum of Rs 5,000 for 2BHK apartments and Rs 7,000 for 3BHK apartments, and rentals from the clinic, supermarkets and sponsorships are the sources of income,” he explained.
“Rs 7,06,835 was transferred from the Association’s bank accounts to the personal bank accounts of members of the Board of Managers and their friends,” he alleged. The mandatory statutory audit was not filed for 2021-22, which was supposed to be done by July 2022. For 2020-21, an incomplete audit has been done with just Rs 16 lakh shown as revenue, Ghosh charged. “I have filed a disciplinary complaint with The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India against the auditor of financial year 2020-21,” he said.