PNB staffer among 8 held, diverted power bill money

NOIDA: Police on Tuesday arrested eight people in connection with the alleged Rs 1.77-crore power dues payment scam in Noida. Those arrested include a former and two serving employees of the western UP wing of the power department — Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) — and a deputy manager with Punjab National Bank (PNB).
The arrests by the Sector 49 police come nearly two weeks after PVVNL had alleged dues to the tune of Rs 1.77 crore paid by consumers through cheques and demand drafts were not deposited in its account in the Sector 50 branch of ICICI Bank, and instead diverted to a PNB branch in Bulandshahr.
The accused have been identified as Sachin Kumar, Karan Singh, Jai Subhash, Ankur Bhaskar, Vishal Sharma, Manish Kumar, Yatendra Chaudhary and Brajesh Kumar. Police named Sachin, a former PVVNL staffer, as the kingpin of the scam. Karan and Jai, who helped Sachin, work with the power department. Ankur is a deputy manager in PNB’s Bulandshahr’s Palrajhal branch, while his counterpart in the bank’s Jokhabad branch, Anand Gautam, is on the run, police said. Manish, an employee of a private service provider to the ICICI Bank, would collect the DDs/cheques from the PVVNL office and deposit them. Police have seized property and cash (including money in bank accounts) worth Rs 79 lakh from the accused.
DCP (Noida) Sankalp Sharma said Sachin, Jai and Karan had engaged Manish to siphon off money. He had got in touch with PNB Jokhabad branch’s deputy manager Anand who, in turn, introduced them to Ankur in Palrajhal branch.
The accused then opened an account at PNB’s Palrajhal branch, using fake documents, and would deposit some DD/cheques paid by consumers in that account, cops said. “The accused would remove the stamps of the PVVNL from the original cheques/DDs and instead put the stamp of the fake account holder, a company bearing similar initials as the account of PVVNL, and deposit the same in bank. The DD/cheques would be encashed using Ankur’s help,” Sector 49 station officer Dharmendra Sharma said. DCP Sharma has ruled out any direct role of ICICI Bank officials in the same.