Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Teams of Economic Offenses Cell Unit Bhopal conducted searches at the headquarters of 'The Evangelical Lutheran Church in MP' in Chhindwara and the residences of the society office-bearers. Searches were conducted at six places in Chhindwara and Bhopal, said the officials, here on Thursday.
Superintendent of police Rajesh Mishra told Free Press that the searches were conducted by the teams of EOW at the headquarters of ‘The Evangelical Lutheran Church in MP’ located in Chhindwara and the residences of the office bearers of the society.
These raids were conducted following a complaint of the staffers of ‘The Evangelical Lutheran Church in MP’ in Chhindwara over the embezzlement of Provident Fund amounting to crores of rupees. The complaint had said that due to non-deposit of EPF contribution by the society, the families of employees who died due to Covid-19 and other reasons, failed to get insurance amount.
The EOW team conducted searches at the office of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in MP’ residences of society president Surendra Kumar Sukka, secretary Nitin Sahai, former treasurer Basant Kumar, treasurer SP Dilraj, in Chhindwara.
Searches were also conducted at the residence of society vice president Anil Martin in Bhopal. The complainants had alleged that the PF was deducted from their salaries for the past 13 years but the society did not deposit it in the EPF account. The employees claimed that the society members had embezzled around Rs 5 crores. After the primary investigation of the complaint, an FIR has been registered and investigation has been started.
During the investigations it came to fore that EPF amount was deducted from the salary of the employees posted at headquarters since the year 2010, but the amount was not deposited in the EPF account. The society also failed in making its contribution in the EPF account of the employees.
Many incriminating documents were seized during the searches.
