Three individuals, including two women employed as secretarial assistants at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have been arrested for allegedly committing financial fraud exceeding Rs1.9 crore.
The accused — V Soundharya, 25, a resident of Yeshwantpur; R Deepika, 25, from Hesaraghatta; and Sachin Rao, 25, from Bannerghatta Road — have been remanded to judicial custody.
According to a complaint filed on October 31 by IISc registrar Sridhar Warrier, the two women were initially accused of defrauding the institute of up to Rs80 lakh. However, the investigation later revealed that the total amount involved exceeded Rs1.9 crore.
The accused were working as temporary secretarial assistants at IISc through an outsourcing firm, Sri Venkateshwara Enterprises, for the past three years. Their duties included managing accounts and handling administrative responsibilities within the institute.
Police allege that the duo manipulated official sanction orders issued by the academic department for advance funds meant for students’ foreign travel. By forging and altering approval documents, they reportedly changed the bank account details of students and redirected the funds into 16 bank accounts belonging to relatives and associates.
Investigators stated that the misappropriated money was used to purchase assets including land and gold ornaments.
During searches conducted between November 8 and 10, authorities recovered assets worth nearly Rs1 crore. The recovered items included two plots of land valued between Rs70 lakh and Rs80 lakh, 121 grams of gold ornaments worth about Rs15 lakh, Rs1 lakh in cash, and a Maruti Suzuki Brezza valued at around Rs10 lakh.
Police said further investigation is ongoing to determine whether more individuals were involved in the financial fraud.
