BANGALORE: A fraud that could go well over `3 crore has been detected at Bangalore-based plane-maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) after a contract labourer, C Rajanna, working with the Aerospace Division, was caught duping the company by fudging bank transaction documents. Now in judicial custody, along with two other co-accused (Nagesh and Ramesh), sources said Rajanna cheated HAL by tampering the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) account forms — a faster money transfer mode between banks. He is also suspected to have encashed cheques through cheque discount agents at various banks.Rajanna duped HAL by forging signatures and tampering with the RTGS account forms. As an assistant accountant on contract, he was assigned for dealing with the Aerospace Division’s payments to be deposited in bank(s) for HAL’s beneficiaries/vendors. Bangalore Police sources said Rajanna made additional entries in RTGS forms after the finance department cleared them (in most cases with multiple signatures) for banking purposes. “Some additional entries were made using whiteners and in some cases, signatures were forged. In some entries, Rajanna made additional columns. We estimate the fraud to be more than `3 crore, though HAL is yet to give us an official figure,” the sources said.Rajanna operated through Kaviraj Enterprises (in pic) — a travel firm owned by him and managed by his friend Nagesh. Officials said he was possibly involved in the fraud from 2007. “We are probing how he managed to outsmart both HAL and SBI officials. The cheque discount agents might not have suspected his motives seeing HAL’s name,” police said.
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