Bengal man arrested for siphoning off Rs 4 crore from Goa Samagra Shiksha funds

Panaji: A man from West Bengal allegedly siphoned off Rs 4.6 crore from the bank account of Goa Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (GSSA). These funds were intended for the implementation of school education schemes.

The misappropriation occurred without the knowledge of the authorities concerned. Porvorim police arrested one person from West Bengal who is a garment businessman on paper.
GSSA holds a savings account in a nationalised bank at the Porvorim branch in the name of ‘Goa Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Society’. The misappropriation came to light in April when an auditor of a private bank pointed out the transactions.
Immediately, the bank manager of the private bank approached the GSSA office and highlighted the transactions.
When the officials of GSSA approached the nationalised bank, they realised that since 2020 there has been no update of the mobile number despite repeated requests to the bank. It was also found that the new chequebook issued by the nationalised bank to the accused was not registered with the bank.


GSSA officials found that the bank cleared the official cheque issued by GSSA and at the same time cleared the cheque issued by the accused without verifying how two different cheques with different signatures were processed. The nationalised bank’s manager allegedly even tried to delay providing CCTV footage to GSSA.
The bank allegedly updated the new mobile number on forged documents without informing GSSA, and the accused took control of the account.
“Some unknown person fraudulently updated the linked mobile number of the bank account of GSSA and further submitted forged positive-pay system (PPS) slips,” North Goa SP Rahul Gupta said.
PPS is a safety mechanism with which the issuer of a high-value cheque attests to its bona fides.
Gupta said, “The accused presented cheques with forged signatures to various banks in various branches all over Goa, which resulted in fraudulent transactions of Rs 4.6 crore approximately.”
Based on the transactions and mobile numbers used for committing the crime, one of the account holders was identified in West Bengal, Gupta said.
“He was traced and arrested. All the bank accounts involved have been frozen, and the trail of money is also traced, and subsequent accounts have also been frozen,” Gupta said. “The arrested accused, a conspirator, provided his bank account, ATM card, and SIM card to a co-accused for a commission of 1% on every transaction and was assured a loan of Rs 50 lakh for his business.”
The main accused in the case is yet to be traced.
The state project director GSSA, S S Ghadi, said in the complaint that in the bank statement, some suspicious transactions were noticed in the months of Feb, March, and April 2025, which were brought to the notice of the bank for taking necessary action in the matter.
“It is also to bring to your kind notice that this office submitted to the bank a letter requesting the approval of the payment with the single signature of the chief accounts officer during the period from Feb 21, 2025, to March 5, 2025, as the state project director was out of station on official duty,” the complaint said.
Ghadi said, “However, prima facie, it looks like by neglecting our letter, payments were approved with both signatures. Therefore, you are requested to register our complaint and conduct a thorough inquiry with regards to suspicious transactions to recover the amount that has been transferred.”