Ahmedabad e-procurement firm alleges ₹1.56 crore fraud by employees

An Ahmedabad-based e-procurement technology company has accused two of its employees of allegedly siphoning off more than ₹1.56 crore by manipulating bidder account details and misusing administrative access to the company’s digital system.

A complaint was registered at the Ellisbridge Police Station following allegations of criminal breach of trust, cheating and unauthorised tampering of sensitive financial data.

Dhwani Deepakbhai Vrajlal Kamani, finance head at E-Procurement Technologies Limited, alleged that employees Dharam Harishbhai Rathod and Nikhil Rajeshbhai Khalas exploited administrative privileges provided by the company to divert bidder security deposits into personal bank accounts.

The company, located at Wall Street-2 near Gujarat College in Ellisbridge, provides technological platforms for e-auction and e-tendering services. As part of its operations, companies participating in bidding processes deposit bid security amounts in escrow accounts, which are later refunded to bidders after completion of the process.

Police said Rathod had been working as a support manager with the company since 2006, while Khalas joined the organisation in 2011, left in 2021 and later rejoined in May 2025 as head of the support bidding division.

According to the complaint, the company’s internal audit and digital investigation revealed suspicious activity involving digital signature certificate (DSC) files and unauthorised access to bidder accounts.

Investigators were informed that the accused allegedly detached original bidder DSC files, reset user passwords and altered banking details linked to refund accounts.

The accused allegedly replaced the original bidder bank account details with an SBI account belonging to Nikhil Khalas and a Bank of Baroda account belonging to his wife, Priyanka Khalas.

Police said the accused allegedly logged into multiple bidder accounts using changed credentials, attached DSC files and processed unauthorised transactions from escrow accounts through the company’s internal systems.

According to the police, between January 2021 and April 2026, approximately ₹16 lakh was transferred into Nikhil Khalas’s SBI account, while ₹1.40 crore was allegedly credited to the Bank of Baroda account of Priyanka Khalas.

The total amount allegedly embezzled from the company has been estimated at ₹1.56 crore

The complainant has sought legal action against Nikhil Khalas, Priyanka Khalas and Dharam Rathod. Police said digital evidence, transaction records and internal system logs are being examined as part of the ongoing investigation.