Two IT firm employees booked for Rs 1.6 crore escrow fraud in Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad: In a five-year insider ‘tech heist’, two senior employees of an IT firm from Ellisbridge allegedly rigged the company’s digital authentication systems to siphon Rs 1.6 crore from client escrow accounts. The Ellisbridge police have registered a case of cheating and breach of trust against the duo and one of their spouses following an internal audit that exposed the digital fraud.

The complaint was filed by Dhvani Kamani, finance head of the company that provides e-auction and e-tendering platforms and digital procurement services to companies across the country. According to the FIR, the accused — Dharmesh, Nikhilesh and Nikhilesh’s wife Priya (names changed) — allegedly siphoned off Rs 1.56 crore from bidder escrow accounts over a period of more than five years.

Police said Dharmesh had been working with the company as a support manager since 2006, while Nikhilesh had worked with the firm between 2011 and 2021 before rejoining in May 2025 as head of the support bidding division. Due to their senior positions, both employees were allegedly granted administrative rights to access and manage the company’s digital systems.

Investigators said the company discovered suspicious activity on April 30 and May 1 this year, prompting an internal probe. The inquiry allegedly revealed that the accused had misused admin access to manipulate bidder accounts linked to the company’s digital signature certificate (DSC)-based authentication system.

Police said the duo allegedly detached original users’ DSC files, altered account credentials and changed linked bank details in bidder profiles. Funds from escrow accounts were then allegedly transferred into bank accounts belonging to Nikhilesh and Priya.

The complaint states that between Jan 2021 and April 2026, around Rs 16 lakh was transferred into Nikhilesh’s SBI account, while over Rs 1.4 crore was routed into Priya’s Bank of Baroda account.

Ellisbridge police have launched an investigation into the alleged cyber-enabled financial fraud and are examining digital records and transaction trails.