Two held in Rs 70-crore EPFO co-operative society scam

BENGALURU: The Cubbon Park police have arrested the two accused in connection with the alleged Rs 70 crore misappropriation in the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) Staff Credit Co-operative Society. The accused have been identified as G Gopinath, CEO of the society, and Lakshmi Jagadish, wife of former accountant B L Jagadish. According to police, the two were arrested after it was found that several crores had been illegally transferred from the societys bank accounts into Lakshmis personal account. Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had been diverting depositors money for several years. Jagadish was leading a lavish lifestyle with luxury cars and high-value assets despite drawing a modest salary. The accuseds bank accounts have been frozen, and efforts are on to trace and seize assets purchased using the misappropriated funds. Both accused were produced before the magistrate court and remanded in two-day police custody for further questioning, the police said. The scam came to light after depositors failed to receive interest payments for the past three months. An internal audit by depositors revealed that around Rs 70 crore had been siphoned off from the accounts, following which they filed a police complaint.