One year after the rape and murder of eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir, trouble has not ended for her father. It has been reported that the money he received as compensation through donations and crowd funding has been siphoned off from his account. He is now in isolation in the village and does not interact with his neighbours.
Money amounting to Rs 10 lakh has been debited from his account over the past few months. He made this discovery on April 10, when he visited the J&K Bank to make a withdrawal.
"Someone has withdrawn more than Rs 10 lakh from our joint account. We have no information about it. The statement shows consistent withdrawal and we are only left with Rs 35,000 in the account. We were told over Rs 1 crore was had been donated from all over the world, but don't know where it went," the heartbroken father told India Today.
On analysing the passbook he noticed that one particular man, Aslam Khan, withdrew Rs 2 lakh from the account over a week in January. The victim's father knew an Aslam Khan and when he spoke to him about the situation, he became very ambiguous, heightening the man's suspicion.
These transactions were made on January 11, 14, 15, 18 of 2019. Another series of transactions took place from January 21 to 22. Rs 4 lakh was taken by a Naseem. However, the family does not know any Naseem.
The money came to the Kathua victim's father's account through a series of donations across the world. The first donation was in April 2018 when a sum Rs 18,46,774 was given by Ketto Online Ventures. The donation was made directly into the man's account. By May-end, the account showed a balance of Rs 19,23,774. By December 2018, the man had Rs 21 lakh in his account.
However, during the period of three months from January to March 2019, the money disappeared and the victim's father is helpless. According to India Today, the bank can do little if it is presented with cheques which are signed and stamped, as was in this case.
"Bank received the cheques with proper dates and impression. The family can block the cheque book, till further notice. Someone within their known circle has had access to all details and ensured bank protocol was followed," the branch head of J&K Bank told India Today.
A report by Kashmirwalla, an online paper, said that a cheque addressed to 'Self' was also presented to the bank on March 21, 2019 and they could not refuse the transaction. The father said that it could not have been him since he and his family were at Samba on those dates.
