Bengaluru: 2 held for misusing money collected for NGOs

Based on the complaint filed by the officials of the District Child Protection Unit the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police raided a private firm in NGR Layout in Roopena Agrahara and arrested two persons involved in misusing the funds collected for orphanages run by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The arrested are identified as Ajay VN, CEO of Acumentrix Private Limited and his partner Venkatachalapati N. The accused persons have tie-up with a few NGOs to get the donors and allegedly take around 30 per cent to 40 per cent commission of the total donated amount from each donor.

Shruthi Bai U, of the District Child Protection Unit, South has filed a complaint with Bommanahalli police stating that Ajay and others have been running the office for the last four to five years. They have around 20 employees who are assigned to make phone calls to the public and get funds for orphans. The accused persons used to introduce themselves from NGOs such as Child Life Foundation in Bengaluru, Love & Care, Asha Kutira Foundation and WE4 in Hyderabad and other places.

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They used to inform people that their organisation is taking care of education, food and other needs of the orphan children and sought donations.

They sent photos of children and links of the websites of the organisations to make them believe. In a day they used to contact around 200 persons and get donations from a few persons. The donations were received through online transfers and digital payment applications to the organisation's account. The donors were sent the receipt for the amount paid.

Later take the commission from the respective organisations. According to Bai, the accused persons misused the 80G certificate for Income Tax and also used the funds for their personal use, instead of spending the money on children.

The CCB police and DCPU officials raided the office on Friday and registered the case under the Juvenile Justice Act, Information Technology Act and under other IPC sections and are investigating.

SD Sharanappa, joint commissioner of police (Crime) said, we are verifying the documents seized during the search. We have seized a laptop, and 13 mobile phones and are also verifying the bank accounts.