The investigation carried out by the special operation group (SOG) of Rajasthan police, which revealed that INR 160 million was embezzled at Alwar Urban Cooperative Bank, brought to light plans hatched by the accused, which included starting a bank in Sri Lanka.

The 37-year-old BBA graduate and mastermind in the case, Abhishek Joshi, had not only allegedly met the president of Sri Lanka in Goa, he was also in touch with top administrative officers of the island nation to start financial institutions.

During the investigation, the SOG team also found that he was planning similar frauds in the neighbouring country after starting the bank.

On Wednesday, the SOG unearthed the embezzlement of nearly INR 160 million and illegal money exchange of INR 13.8 million by cooperative bank officials, and arrested five, persons including the CEO, former chairman, present chairman and the mastermind of the fraud.

Abhishek is seen as the kingpin in planning and executing the whole embezzlement.

Joshi is a BBA graduate and fluent in English. While investigating the case, the sleuths of SOG were stunned when they recovered a photograph of Abhishek with Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lankan president.

“We found that the accused Abhishek had visited Sri Lanka and had explored possibilities to start a bank in any of the states in the island nation. We have also recovered a photograph of the accused with the Sri Lankan president. He was in touch with some top-ranked administrative officers of a few states in the neighbouring country,” said a senior officer of the SOG on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

Asked about the interest of the accused in Sri Lanka, Dinesh M N, inspector general of police, said, “All I can say is that we are investigating and looking into every angle in this case. Various things that we have recovered need to be verified.”

Source: Times of India 

-Agencies