GURUGRAM: Police have busted a financial fraud of Rs 150 crore by senior officials of a city-based firm. The accused persons allegedly manipulated employees’ provident fund (PF) contributions and forged salary records and other documents of non-existent employees, siphoning off large amounts of money.
The main accused in the case, Deepika Dhull, is the HR head of the company, V Inspirer Facility Management Pvt Ltd, which supplies manpower to government agencies. She was arrested by police from her hideout, a resort in Uttarakhand’s Jim Corbett National Park, on Saturday.
“Deepika is in police remand till August 31,” said police spokesperson Subhash Boken adding, that further investigation is underway.
Her husband Vikas Dhull and brother-in-law Arun, who are directors of the company, are already in Tihar Jail in another case of fraud.
V Inspirer recently received a notice from the North Western Railway stating that the PF contribution amounts (employees’ share) shown in the wage sheet didn’t match the employees’ EPF account statements. Anil Chillar, also a director of the company, investigated the matter and came across several fraudulent records. He then approached police, and an FIR was registered against the Dhulls and several others under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 380 (theft) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC at DLF-1 police station on August 16.
The modus operandi revolved around creating fake employees, wage registers and PF records, and submitting the forged documents to the company’s clients, including Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Naya Raipur Development Authority and the Indian Railways. Apart from pocketing the pay of the fake employees, the accused people also deposited only a part of the actual workers’ PF contribution with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). They also edited the original electronic challan-cum-return issued by EPFO after the deposits and changed the PF contribution amount stating on it, submitting the doctored files to Railways and other government departments showing that they have paid the full share.
Siphoning off crores in this way, the Dhulls lived a lavish lifestyle and built palatial houses in Rohtak and Gurgaon, police said. While their associates Anil Sharma and Rakesh Kumar Hans were arrested on Monday, police are searching for Nimesh Vashisht and a few others who allegedly helped the Dhulls forge documents.
Vikas and Arun Dhull were arrested on July 29 by Delhi Police and sent to judicial custody in Tihar Jail on August 5. A Delhi court has also issued a non-bailable warrant against Deepika and Delhi Police had been searching for her for nearly a month now.
“To evade police, Deepika used only apps like Telegram and Signal to make calls on Wi-Fi networks of random restaurants and hotels. She used to keep her phone on aeroplane mode all the time to avoid being traced. It took a lot of effort to track her down,” a source said.
