What would you have done if your monthly salary was Rs 13,000? Fulfill your basic needs and if possible, save for the future. However, a contractual Maharashtra government employee with the same pay purchased a BMW car, a BMW bike, and a 4 BHK flat in an apartment opposite the airport for his girlfriend.
Difficult to believe, but let’s find out how he did it.
Just like most of us, the opulent and extravagant lifestyle of 23-year-old Harsh Kumar Kshirsagar baffled his colleagues and acquaintances as they too struggled to comprehend the source of such wealth.
It was then found that Harsh could manage all these luxuries after he allegedly defrauded the government department he worked for of Rs 21 crore 59 lakh 38 thousand. To do this, he sought help from another acquaintance.
The duo allegedly swindled the amount from the departmental sports complex administration of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar through internet banking.
According to a report by News18 Marathi, Harsh bought a BMW car, a BMW bike, and a 4 BHK flat in an apartment in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar with the stolen money.
He also commissioned diamond-studded glasses from a renowned city jeweller.
The probe further revealed that the husband of another female contract worker involved in the scheme had purchased Rs 35 lakhs SUV. As per preliminary findings, the prime accused, Harsh Kumar Anil Kshirsagar, has absconded with the vehicle.
For any transactions, the cheques required signed by the Deputy Sports Director. However, with an intent to siphon off government money, he laid out a plan which worked in his favour.
According to a report by NDTV, Harsh had initially opened a new email account with an address similar to the sports complex’s account, by carefully changing one alphabet from the old one. He then pulled out an old letterhead of the sports complex and sent a message to the bank requesting to update the email address linked to the sports complex’s account.
The new email address was then linked to the sports complex’s bank account and Harsh then got an easy access to OTPs and other information required for transactions.
He then activated Internet banking facility on the bank account of the divisional sports complex committee and between July 1 and December 7 this year, he allegedly transferred Rs 21 crore 59 lakh 38 thousand into 13 bank accounts, the report said.
The accused, Harsh, Yashoda Shetty and her husband BK Jeevan, contractual employees at the sports complex, however, allegedly fabricated documents to provide the bank.
After succeeding in activating internet banking facilities using the forged documents, they transferred funds to their accounts.
The act was done so precariously that the departmental deputy director only detected the fraudulent activity six months later.
Link to article –
