A ‘billion’ saves Maharashtra PWD from losing Rs 111 crore in cheque fraud; 2 arrested | Mumbai News

PALGHAR: An alert State Bank of India official of Jawhar branch in Maharashtra’s Palghar district saved over Rs 111 crore of the state govt’s PWD department after noticing “billion” and “million” written on a cheque presented to issue a demand draft (DD) to a local contractor. The official rushed to the department to verify the credentials and found it to be forged, after which cops on Friday arrested the contractor, who also happens to be president of Jawhar Nagar panchayat, along with the contractual employee of the PWD department.The contractor and the contractual employee were sent to police remand. Police are investigating whether if there are more persons involvedin the attempted loot. A case under sections of cheating and forgery was registered filed at the Jawhar police station.A cheque dated Nov 7 was presented to the bank’s Jawhar branch for Rs 111 crore and 63 lakh, requesting a DD to be issued in favour of contractor Ovi Constructions. This amount was to be issued from the PWD’s account which has Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) made by contractors when they apply for any tender, confirmed a source.The bank official noticed a couple of things that were not routine. First, the amount written had two words which are rarely used in local banking — ‘million’ and ‘billion’. Second, a third-party (a person not from the PWD) visited the branch with the request letter and the cheque issued by the PWD. For such a huge amount, no one from the PWD visited the branch, which raised doubts.