Three more arrested in Navy fake bill scam

Three senior officers of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) were today arrested in connection with the Rs 6.33 crore fake bill payment scam in the Navy, police said.
Police had earlier arrested four persons in the case.
"We have arrested three more senior officers (of PCDA), senior auditor S Narayanan (43), senior accounts officer Chandrakant V Siri (57) and accounts officer Ramesh GA (56). They were posted at Navy's Karwar base," Crime Branch's Additional Superintendent of Police Vinay Praksh Paul said.
The trio was accused of conspiring with the PCDA auditor, Suresh Hatle, and misusing their powers for approving a payment of Rs 6.33 crore on the basis of fake bills despite knowing that they were not authorised to sanction such a big amount, he said.

Police have already arrested Hatle, retired Navy storekeeper Rajkumar Choudhry, Indore-based chartered accountant Ramratan Singhal and Bank of India's local branch manager Bhupesh Joshi.
Of the Rs 6.33 crore which were misappropriated, Rs four crore have been recovered, Paul said.
Hatle allegedly sanctioned fake bills for payment of electronic goods and other items for the Navy and transferred the money to two accounts in Indore-based banks. Rs 5.36 crore were transferred in one account and Rs 97 lakh in the other.
The chartered accountant opened these accounts using his customer's identity and his private firm's papers in the name of Neel Enterprises and transferred the amount to them. The scam took place between July 2014 to October 2014, the ASP said.