‘Insurance company couple took Rs 40 crore out of a third bank’

MUMBAI: Investigation into the Rs8-crore siphoning of funds from the accounts of United India Insurance Company Ltd. has revealed that the accused husband-wife duo, who worked as assistant managers with the insurance firm, had registered a realty firm in New Delhi earlier this year. Meanwhile, the police have got details of financial transactions from a third bank and found that Rs 40 crore was diverted to different accounts from this bank, said an investigator. The total money diverted so far has gone up to Rs 170 crore, said the officer.

Jaideep Sinha, deputy general manager of the insurance company, had lodged an FIR against Singh and others with the Marine Drive police. The case was later transferred to the city’s economic offences wing (EOW). On June 28, the EOW arrested Khushal Singh (38) and his wife Neelam Singh (33) from Pune. Singh worked in the accounts department, while his wife was in the IT department of the insurance firm. Singh had been working with the firm’s Mumbai office since 2016. “While Singh transferred money to various accounts, his wife is one of the beneficiaries,” said a police source.

A team supervised by EOW chief Niket Kaushik and investigating officer Mandar Lad is probing the case. Singh was the signatory authority for a bank account. Later, the bank brought some suspicious transactions to the notice of the insurance firm and an inquiry found that more than Rs 8 crore was transferred to Singh’s personal accounts and later to other accounts. Details of another bank account too showed that he had transferred more than Rs 121 crore to various individuals, companies and third parties.

This week, police got the report of a third bank account, where Singh was a signatory authority, and found that Rs 40 crore was transferred from this account too. “The total money diverted to more than 70 accounts is up to Rs 170 crore so far,” said an officer, adding Singh had been transferring money for the last couple of years till the FIR was filed in May. “Money has been transferred to the accounts of more than 15 real estate developers in Gurgaon and Noida,” added the officer. He is alleged to have booked 30 plus properties.

“We are now seeking details of the company that Singh had registered in New Delhi,” said an officer. Investigators have also sought the passport details of Singh and his wife to find out if they travelled abroad. Police have written to various banks asking them to freeze 70 accounts where the money is suspected to have been diverted.