The police are said to have seized records of banks, I-T authorities and others, running into thousands of pages, which have so far established transfer of a sum of Rs 937 lakhs from the school and high school to a division of a private limited company belonging to one of the accused persons.

Debanjan Mandal, managing partner of Fox & Mandal, said, “Our client, Harsh Vardhan Lodha, chairman of the MP Birla Group , had launched a threadbare investigation into the finances of the school. The probe was conducted over a year and defalcation of at least Rs 10 crore of the school’s funds, mostly through bank transfers was noticed. Our client has full confidence in the police machinery and the state administration that the accused persons will face the full force of the law, and actions will be taken to recover trust properties.”

A written complaint was filed on February 21 last year by one Indranil Choudhury on the basis of information provided to him by the chairman of the MP Birla Group.

“The investigation conducted by the group revealed rampant falsification and fabrication of vouchers, invoices and other documents aimed at defalcation of funds from the school/ society. It is understood that the police have seized records from banks and the Income Tax department, among others, running into thousands of pages, to verify and corroborate the findings of the investigation conducted by the MP Birla Group. In the past seven years, a company owned and controlled by Damani had shown Rs 14.31 crore as income without having any real business activity. Most of these funds came from the school: in the past three years alone, Rs 9.37 crore have been transferred from the school to the accounts of this private enterprise. Of the amount received by this company, Rs 4.40 crore was transferred to Daman is relatives and associates,” read a statement issued by the group.