Ghaziabad Frauds Purloins Gas Subsidy Of 3,000 Assam Customers

GHAZIABAD: Seven people have been arrested in the city for allegedly changing the bank account numbers of 3,024 customers of a cooking gas business in Assam in 2018 and manipulating their government subsidies.

Officials from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Noida office filed a petition in a Ghaziabad court, and the court ordered the police to look into the matter. The FIR was filed on Wednesday.

In Kharupetia, in the Darrang district of Assam, Hirimba Gas Agency allegedly received distribution rights from IOC.

According to authorities, the accused was able to obtain information on the gas agency's clients as well as the bank accounts where the government subsidy was deposited.

Between October 15 and November 11, 2018, the gang updated the bank account information for 3,024 customers using fraudulent documents in order to steal lakhs of rupees.

The gas agency employee is suspected by the police of having assisted the accused in obtaining consumer information. The police promised to question the gang members about how they altered the bank account information and how much money was taken.

The seven defendants, all residents of Kavi Nagar's Bamheta village, have been identified as Mukul Kumar, Surendra Singh, Dinesh Singh, Anil Kumar, Rewati, Kallu Singh, and Kamlesh.

According to IOC personnel in Noida, SP Singh, the divisional sales head, "smelled a plot" when they discovered that over 3,000 bank accounts for customers from Assam's Darrang district had been opened in Ghaziabad. 2,044 of the 3,024 account holders were Hirimba Gas Agency customers. The rest also lived in the same neighbourhood.

"The group changed the bank account information and took possession of all the funds during that time."

During that time, consumers received Rs 180 in monthly subsidies. Investigations are ongoing to determine how they were able to commit the crime.

IOC officials first called the police on November 25, 2019, but no complaints were made at that time. The hearing was subsequently postponed due to the epidemic, after the complainant moved court.

The complaint was subsequently dismissed for lack of prosecution on March 4 of last year since the complainant also passed away during the COVID epidemic.

A new plea was filed by IOC in the Ghaziabad court a few months later, and the case was heard on Wednesday.

According to Abhishek Srivastava, ACP-3, the FIR against the seven accused was filed under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as well as Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), and 34 (acts done by several people in furtherance of a common intention).

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