In August 2021, IE had first reported an accused allegedly used as many as 817 bank accounts of migrant workers to fraudulently claim provident fund totalling Rs 21.5 crore on their behalf and deposit it in their accounts.
All the eight EPFO officials named in the CBI FIR have been removed from office for their alleged involvement in the fraud.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said it has conducted searches at four places in Mumbai and recovered Rs 13.4 lakh in connection with its case booked against eight employees posted at the Kandivili office of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) who allegedly siphoned off Rs 18.97 crore from a common provident fund pool through fraudulent withdrawals.
The CBI FIR filed last month booked Chandan Kumar Sinha, a clerk at the Kandivali office of EPFO, and his seniors Abhijeet Onekar, Shiva Sankhar Mamadi, Uttam Tagaray, Vijay Jarpe, Dilip Rathod, Ganesh Ghaywat and Seema Bankar, all employees of EPFO at the same branch, under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act for cheating, forgery and criminal misconduct.
All the eight EPFO officials named in the CBI FIR have been removed from office for their alleged involvement in the fraud.
According to the CBI, the money was seized from a former section supervisor and social security assistant.
In August 2021, it was first reported how Sinha, 37, allegedly used as many as 817 bank accounts of migrant workers to fraudulently claim provident fund totalling Rs 21.5 crore on their behalf and deposit it in their accounts.
Sinha allegedly obtained active bank accounts and aadhar details from the needy and mostly jobless migrant workers by paying them commissions as low as Rs 5,000. He then opened provident fund accounts in their names as employees of 20 Mumbai-based companies that had shut down 10-15 years ago to create non-existent physical claims.
Sinha subsequently processed at least 592 such fake claims worth Rs 17.32 crore while his accomplice Onekar allegedly settled 156 claims worth Rs 4.34 crore and siphoned off the money. These claims were then approved by other senior officers of the branch.
According to the EPFO, it detected 833 cases of fraudulent settlements between 2019 and 2021 through 20 dormant establishments in Mumbai.