Ahmedabad: The CBI has booked senior manager of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) for allegedly siphoning Rs 1.5 crore using fake payment vouchers, misuse of SAP IDs and showing fraudulent payments to vendors.According to the FRI registered with CBI Gandhinagar unit, Sejal Kolhatkar, senior manager (finance) at IOCL’s refinery in Vadodara between March 2024 and June 2025, diverted money to four selected vendors by generating payment vouchers without supporting documents using junior employees’ SAP IDs.The FIR was based on a complaint filed by Rajiv Kacker, executive director (vigilance), IOCL.Kolhatkar allegedly misused his official position between March 22, 2024 and June 2, 2025 by creating and approving payment vouchers without mandatory supporting documents.He used SAP login credentials of junior employees to create entries while he himself, being the final approver, approved the payments to be released without prescribed scrutiny, stated the FIR.The fraudulent payments were routed to M/s Telcom Electronics, M/s Bharatiya Construction, M/s Alfa Electricals and M/s PS Engineering, causing loss to IOCL and corresponding gain to the accused.The CBI alleged that Kolhatkar received Rs 30.5 lakh from M/s Telcom Electronics in three instalments in his SBI account and that Rs 3.5 lakh was deposited by M/s Bharatiya Construction into the Kotak Mahindra Bank account of his wife, Anjali Kolhatkar. The FIR further alleges that he diverted a Rs 74 lakh House Building Advance released by IOCL for personal investments.The complaint states that Kolhatkar admitted to posting accounting entries without supporting documents and had signed all payment vouchers. It also alleges that he did not provide complete bank account details during the vigilance inquiry, preventing investigators from establishing the complete money trail.The case has been lodged after the approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act was granted by Chakresh Kumar Jain, ED (finance) and the competent disciplinary authority of IOCL. The approval letter also directed investigators to examine the role of the vendors in the alleged fraud.CBI has invoked provisions of the Act along with offences relating to criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts under the BNS.
