A fraud case has been registered at the Udupi Town police station. Police arrested two people, Supesh (25) and Shantha (43), both residents of Udupi, in connection with a property tax fraud case for cheating. The complaint was filed by the commissioner of the Udupi City Municipal Council, Mahantesh Hangargi.
To catch them, police formed a special team. On February 12, the team caught the suspects near a Union Bank branch in the Rajangana area of Udupi.
How the Scam Was Carried Out?
Mahantesh Hangargi explained that property tax payments are normally done in a proper way. First a challan is generated online (e-receipt) and the money is then deposited into the municipal council’s account at Union Bank. On February 3, while checking property tax records, the staff found something suspicious. They noticed a challan dated January 28 that had the Union Bank seal on it. But when they checked the bank’s account statement, there was no record of that payment on that date. This meant the challan might be fake or duplicated, and the bank seal may have been misused.
On February 4, officials were checking property tax payment records again. During this check, they looked at some payment challans that had a Union Bank seal dated February 4. But when they verified the records carefully, they found something suspicious. The staff informed the commissioner about this mismatch, after which a fraud case was registered for further investigation.
The officials found that the challans which showed a February 4 date were actually created earlier on January 28. They also noticed that two challans had the same challan number, but each one had a Union Bank seal with a different date, which should never happen. This made it clear that the records were tampered with. Officials believe that unknown people misused the Union Bank seal, took property tax money using fake or changed challans, and cheated the authorities by making the payments look genuine when they were not.
The operation was carried out under the supervision of senior police officers, and the investigation was led by the Udupi Town Police Station, with help from several police officers and staff members. During questioning, the police recovered the seal that was allegedly used to carry out the fraud, along with some important documents related to the case.
Police are now continuing legal action and further investigation. Officials suspect that unknown people misused the Union Bank seal, collected property tax money using fake or altered challans, and cheated the authorities.
