Three men, including a bank manager, are suspected to have duped The Institution of Engineers on Gokhale Road into investing close to Rs 35 crore in fake fixed deposits, police said.

They apparently sent fake invitation letters to the institute, offering “a very high rate of interest”. Even fake fixed deposit certificates had been issued to the institute, the police said. All three have been arrested.

The alleged mastermind, a resident of Sinthi, has been arrested while he was holidaying in Mandarmani. He has been found to possess a BMW. Apart from that Rs1.94 crore and two gold coins, each weighing 100g, have been seized from him and his associates.The city police had received a complaint from the institute in the first week of November saying it had been cheated of Rs 35crore. In the complaint, the institute had alleged it had been issued fake fixed deposit certificates against payments it had made.

The gold coins that were seized Telegraph picture

The Institution of Engineers (India) is a statutory body to promote and advance engineering and technology. It was established in 1920. It is a multi-disciplinary professional body of engineers covering 15 engineering disciplines with a corporate membership of over 200,000 with its headquarters on Gokhale Road in the Bhowanipore area and branches across the country, according to the institute’s website.

“Three people, including the then bank branch manager, have been arrested in connection with the case. All three have been remanded in police custody,” Murlidhar Sharma, joint commissioner (crime), said.

The money Telegraph picture

Preliminary investigations have shown the institute thought it had been transferring money to the Bowbazar branch of a nationalised bank for the fixed deposits. In reality, the money had been transferred to two other accounts from where it was siphoned off.

“During investigation it became apparent that Samrat Paul who was then the branch manager was involved in the matter in connivance with the mastermind — Aroun Pandey,” an officer of Muchipara police station said.

“One of Pandey’s associates, Krishnendu Mallick, had approached the institute on behalf of the bank and misguided the institute officials to invest in the fixed deposit scheme,” the officer said.

The institute was apparently misled into transferring the money to two dubious bank accounts from where it was withdrawn in parts by the men. “The accused branch manager had made the institute officials believe they had transferred the money to the right account by handing over fake fixed deposit certificates from the bank,” the officer said.

Once the crime was reported, tracking the trail of the bank accounts, the police could zero in on two of the accused apart from the then branch manager.

Pandey, the alleged mastermind, is a resident of Kalicharan Ghosh Road in Sinthi, and his associate Krishnendu Mallick is a resident of Muchipara.

Paul, the former branch manager, is a resident of Habra in North 24-Parganas.

The money Telegraph picture

All three were arrested on Saturday and produced in court on Sunday. They have been sent to police custody till November 20.

Pandey, who was picked up from Mandarmani, was in the possession of a BMW. It has been seized. The two gold coins and the money were seized from him and his associate Mallick.

“We need their custody to find out what they did with the remaining money,” an officer said.

The three have been booked for cheating, forgery, fraud, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust by a public servant (for the bank manager).