Pune: A human resource officer from Scion Vigilant Services Pvt Ltd, a facility management service provider company, has been arrested for embezzling over ₹2 crore by diverting statutory payments and salaries of employees into his and his relatives’ accounts.

The accused, identified as Sandesh Sanjay Tarte, a resident of Praniti Heights, Avhalwadi, allegedly committed the fraud between April 2016 and August 2020, according to a complaint filed by company owner Supriya Avinash Sankpal at the Chandan Nagar Police Station.

The accused was responsible for handling salaries, Provident Fund (PF), Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Goods and Services Tax (GST), and other financial transactions for the company. He had full access to the company’s online systems.

The fraud came to light when Scion Vigilant Services started receiving penalty notices from GST and ESIC departments for non-payment of dues. Upon reviewing records provided by Tarte, it was discovered that he had deleted payroll data and diverted funds meant for statutory payments and employee salaries.

He misused the company’s CMS portal with ICICI Bank to transfer ₹13.31 lakh to the accounts of his relatives and created fake salary accounts. Funds were illegally transferred to the bank accounts of Tarte’s father, brother, uncle, aunt, and mother.

The investigation revealed that Tarte misled the company into believing that salaries and statutory payments were being made on time while redirecting these funds elsewhere.

Employees who had left the company were falsely shown as active, and their salaries were deposited into accounts controlled by Tarte. Over the span of five years, he siphoned off more than ₹2 crore from the company.

The Chandan Nagar Police arrested Sandesh Tarte and produced him before the court, which has remanded him to police custody until February 1, 2025, for further investigation. Assistant Police Inspector Dattaprasad Shendge is leading the investigation.