CHENNAI: Seven mule account holders have been arrested for allegedly siphoning off Rs 22.3 crore from the bank account of the state government’s rural development and panchayat raj department through 46 fraudulent online transactions.
A police officer told TNIE that all the seven are employees of private companies. “They were linked through fraudsters who used their accounts and gave them commissions in return,” he said.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Greater Chennai police identified the suspects as Sellapandian (56) of Ekkatuthangal, Annadurai (56) of Triplicane, Lokanathan (65) of Bengaluru, Abdul Rahman (28) and Jagadeesh (31) of Madurai, and Ashraf Ali and Kannadasan of Sivaganga. Seven mobile phones, 14 SIM cards, a bank cheque book and a passbook were allegedly seized from their possession.
The police found that the suspects had received the defrauded money in their bank accounts, withdrew it as cash and transferred it to other accounts. The police are also tracing how the kingpins had zeroed in on the seven. Efforts are underway to retrieve the money, the police said.
Shellapandian, Annadurai and Lokanathan were arrested initially, followed by the other four. The first three were remanded in judicial custody.
The police said the funds that were siphoned off are meant for implementing the 15th Finance Commission Health Grant Scheme to strengthen healthcare infrastructure in rural areas. They are maintained in a centralised account at a bank’s branch in CIT Nagar, Chennai, and the accounts are operated online using the credentials issued to authorised block development officers (BDOs).
Between October 12 and 30, cyber criminals allegedly misused the login credentials of officials from Keelaiyur in Nagapattinam, Mandapam in Ramanathapuram and Dharapuram in Tiruppur districts to transfer Rs 22.3 crore to 25 different bank accounts.
Money was for health grant scheme
The police said the funds that were siphoned off are meant for implementing the 15th Finance Commission Health Grant Scheme to strengthen healthcare infrastructure in rural areas. Efforts are underway to retrieve the money
