In a shocking incident, a contractual employee siphoned off Rs 21.59 crores from government funds of the Sports Complex Administration. The employee identified as Harshal Kumar Anil Kshirsagar, along with two of his accomplices carried out the financial fraud in Maharashtra’s Divisional Sports Complex at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The contract employee was working at a monthly salary of Rs 13,000.
The police said that Harshal, who is the main accused in the case, is absconding and a search operation is underway. Yashoda Shetty and her husband B Jeevan, who were also involved in the crime, have been arrested and all accounts and documents related to the theft have been seized by the police. It has been suspected that more people might be involved in the fraud case.
BMW car, bike, 4 BHK apartment: How was the money spent?
Ironically, Harshal, who mainly worked as a computer operator on a contract basis in the sports complex and earned a meagre sum of Rs 13,000, bought a BMW car, a bike and even gifted his girlfriend a 4 BHK apartment.
However, he did not stop at luxury vehicles, Harshal even transferred money to 12 different accounts and also ordered diamond-studded glasses for his girlfriend.
Investigation has revealed that the BMW car was worth Rs 1.2 crore, another SUV was bought at Rs 1.3 crore, a BMW motorcycle worth Rs 32 lakh was also purchased with the fraud money.
How was the scam carried out?
The main accused allegedly used the old letterhead of the sports department and sent an email to the bank, requesting to change the email address linked to the bank account of the sports complex. He created a similar email address by changing just one letter and was able to use the newly created email.
He then activated the net banking service for the divisional sports complex committee's account with a nationalized bank on Jalna Road. Police said that between July 1 and December 7, 2024, the computer operator transferred money to his and 12 other bank accounts with a transfer of Rs 3 crore in one of these accounts.
At present, the Economic Offenses Wing of the police is interrogating all the people associated with the sports complex. “We have filed an FIR against three people in this case. Two accused have been arrested and one is still absconding. During the investigation, it was found that he had bought a BMW car and a bike. He had also ordered a luxury apartment and some gold items. Investigation is still going on on all these and our team is investigating in different areas to arrest the main accused,” DCP Prashant Kadam said.
