Latur firm dupes staffers of PF, booked

PUNE: The Yerawada police on Thursday booked the president and office-bearers of a Latur-based housekeeping firm for allegedly duping employees of provident fund amounting to more than Rs 60 lakh.
The firm has been providing services on contract to the Regional Mental Hospital in Yerawada, which had authorized the firm to deposit money in their employees’ PF account.
As per the complaint, the firm had been deducting the PF from the employees’ salary since 2008, but never credited it to their respective accounts till 2014.
The matter came to light after the hospital’s superintendent registered a police complaint.
Police said the hospital had communicated to the firm to deposit Rs61 lakh in the PF account of 78 employees at the earliest, but did not receive a response. The hospital superintendent, after consulting his superiors, registered an FIR.
The firm’s contract ended in 2014. “We have asked the hospital to submit the required documents. We booked the officials under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) of the IPC,” the police said.