Kochi: In a shocking turn of events, on May 17, a person from north India shook the authorities in Supplyco’s head office in Kochi when he produced a bill of Rs 4.15 crore for the purchase of maize from his company and claimed it was unpaid.

Along with this, he also produced documents like purchase orders on letterhead, messages from Supplyco’s official email, and invoices with GST numbers related to the purchase for the officials. 

This incident shed light on the biggest fraud in the history of Supplyco. To their surprise, it was discovered that the fraud of Rs 7 crore was committed by Sathish Chandran (67), a former assistant manager in the human resources department at the head office of Supplyco. 

Based on the complaint filed by Supplyco officials, Sathish Chandran was taken into custody by Kadavanthra police on Thursday night from his residence near Elamkulam Metro station. The arrest was recorded on Friday.

Without the knowledge of the officials, Sathish, who had retired from the firm, was using the official email of Supplyco and creating purchase orders using fake letterhead and the seal of Supplyco. Emails on fake purchase orders were sent to various companies, such as Jiva Lifestyle Private Limited, S.S. Empire in Mumbai, Patodia Brothers, Rajasthan, etc. 

He committed the fraud by reselling the maize he received from these companies. Satish Chandran had opened a bank account as a proprietor in the Grameen Bank branch, and through this account, he paid Rs 3 crore to the companies. The company representatives had reached the head office of Supplyco to collect the remaining amount. It was also found that he used an email ID that was not used by Supplyco for two years. 

According to Kadavanthra Police, cases have been registered in Ernakulam South, Central, Mannar, and Aluva East Police Stations against Satish Chandran. There are also cases against him, including employment fraud.

Sathish Chandran, who was remanded on Friday evening, was admitted to Ernakulam General Hospital due to heart ailments.