Mumbai: Following a report by the Indian Security Press, Nashik, confirming the use of fake postage stamps, which caused a revenue loss of Rs 2.5 crore to the government exchequer, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has initiated a probe into the fraud.
The scam involved the booking of postal articles using forged postage stamps and involving the nexus of outsider person/agency in alleged connivance with officials of the Department of Posts.
According to the CBI officials, a fraud of magnitude involving Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 1.39 crore in FY 2023-24 and Rs 1.11 crore in FY 2024-25) as per internal audit analysis, by way of using fake postage stamps for booking of postal articles had come to light at Lakhaoti sub post office under Bulandshahr Postal Division.
The postal department in its complaint to the CBI has stated that the accused postal department official was responsible for the overall management of postal services, including the booking and dispatching of articles.
However, he allegedly misused his position for personal gain and caused a significant financial loss to the Department of Posts.
“From the time the accused joined Lakhaoti sub post office on May 12, 2023, he started booking postal articles through prepaid postage stamps, even though Lakhaoti SO was not authorised for bulk bookings.
He bypassed proper procedures by taking articles home and preparing bags of them in bulk. He used his login credentials as well as that of his subordinate to process the fraudulent bookings.
For confirmation of the genuineness of these stamps, some of the randomly selected pre-postage stamped articles were sent to the Indian Security Press, Nashik for investigation which confirmed that some of the postage stamps affixed on envelopes were fake/forged,” said a CBI official.
“Additionally, external individuals from Jaipur and Delhi were involved in sending these fake stamped articles. The accused public servant’s actions, including falsifying records and collaborating with outsiders, led to a loss of approximately Rs2.5 crore to the postal department,” the official said.
