EPFO Credit Society scam of Rs 70 crore exposed in Bengaluru. CEO Gopi and employee Lakshmi arrested, third accused absconding. FD amount of retired employees lost, luxury cars seized.
EPFO Fraud Bengaluru: A big financial scam (EPFO Fraud) has come to light in Bengaluru. A fraud of about ₹70 crore has taken place in a staff credit co-operative society associated with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). This scam is related to the hard-earned money of those employees who had invested their fixed deposits (FD) in this society. Police have arrested the society’s CEO Gopi and employee Lakshmi Jagdish in this case, while the third accused accountant Jagdish is still absconding.
How did this big scam of 70 crores of EPFO happen?
This credit society was running for about 61 years, which was started for the benefit of serving and retired employees of EPFO. The employees had deposited their FD here with confidence. For a long time, he kept getting interest every month, due to which everyone felt that the system was working properly. But three months ago the interest payments suddenly stopped, due to which investors became suspicious.
When and how was the secret of fraud revealed?
One day when an employee tried to withdraw money, he noticed something wrong in his bank account. Investigation revealed that crores of rupees of investors were missing from the accounts of the society. About ₹3 crore was disbursed as loan, but no record of the remaining amount was found. According to the police, the accused had embezzled this amount.
Who are the accused Gopi and Laxmi Jagdish?
Of the two people arrested by the police, one is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the society Gopi and the other is employee Lakshmi Jagadish. Police suspect that both of them conspired with accountant Jagdish and gradually embezzled the FD amount of the employees. During the investigation, the police have seized several luxury vehicles, which were allegedly purchased with fraud money.
Crisis on the earnings of retired employees!
The biggest loss due to this scam has been suffered by those retired employees who had deposited their life savings in this society in the form of FD. Now they are making rounds of the authorities to get their money back. Many people have lodged a complaint with the police saying that they had invested years of savings in this trustworthy institution which has now gone bankrupt.
Will the police get clues about the entire amount?
The Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) of Bengaluru Police has started scrutinizing financial records, account transactions and digital data. According to police sources, some amount of Rs 70 crore may have been transferred to foreign accounts also. At present, the search for the third accused is going on and the investigation is being carried forward. This case of EPFO Credit Society is a lesson for those employees who deposit their savings in any institution without investigation.