The city police have arrested former chairman of Gujarat Sessions Employees Cooperative Credit Society, Umesh Shah, for allegedly swindling investors’ money to the tune of Rs1.33 crore. This money had been deposited by the members with the society.
According to police, Shah had forged the account reports between 2002 and 2009 when he was chairman of the society. He allegedly made false audit reports and forged the signatures of executive committee members to pass false resolutions. Shah had appointed his wife as accountant on paper but used to handle all the account by himself. Moreover, he also used to take her salary in his own name.
He was exposed when the auditor found some mischief in the account statement during the annual audit of 2009. The accounts were sent for re-auditing. It was prima facie revealed that he had withdrawn deposits and savings of the members worth Rs1,33,43,000 from the society.
A case of swindling of money was registered earlier in the year but subsequent investigation revealed the involvement of Shah as a prime accused. As soon as his name cropped up, Shah moved an anticipatory bail plea. However, the court rejected it on September 8, followed by which the police arrested him on October 4.
Shah has been booked under sections 409, 466, 467, 471, 120 (b) of IPC and also under the provisions of Preventions of Corruption Act. The police produced him before the special court for the corruption cases seeking his custody for further investigation. The court granted police his custody for three days.
The police are now probing the involvement of other office-bearers of the society in the scam. The investigation, however, has revealed that Shah has nothing in his name apart from a house, and police are clueless about how he swindled the money without anybody realising it for seven years and where he has been hiding it.
