The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally registered a criminal case against a senior finance manager at Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) for allegedly orchestrating a Rs 1.5 crore fraud. The accused, identified in the First Information Report (FIR) as Sejal Kolhatkar, executed this elaborate embezzlement at the public sector unit’s Vadodara refinery between March 2024 and June 2025. By systematically manipulating internal enterprise systems, the manager diverted substantial corporate funds to four handpicked external vendors. The formal criminal complaint was initiated by Rajiv Kacker, IOCL’s executive director of vigilance, following a thorough internal audit.
To effectively bypass institutional security protocols, Kolhatkar deliberately misused his authoritative position by operating the SAP login credentials assigned to his junior subordinates. He instructed these compromised accounts to generate fraudulent payment vouchers lacking any of the mandatory supporting commercial documents. Functioning as the final financial approver, the accused then formally authorized these fabricated entries to release payments without undergoing the prescribed internal scrutiny. These illicit corporate funds were subsequently and unlawfully routed to M/s Telcom Electronics, M/s Bharatiya Construction, M/s Alfa Electricals, and M/s PS Engineering.
Money Trail and Unlawful Enrichment
The federal investigation agency swiftly uncovered a direct financial correlation between the sanctioned corporate payments and the personal banking infrastructure of the accused. Investigators established that Kolhatkar personally received kickbacks totaling Rs 30.5 lakh from M/s Telcom Electronics, deposited across three separate installments into his State Bank of India account. Furthermore, M/s Bharatiya Construction transferred an additional Rs 3.5 lakh directly into a Kotak Mahindra Bank account held by his wife, Anjali Kolhatkar. The FIR further alleges that the finance manager unlawfully diverted a Rs 74 lakh House Building Advance into unauthorized personal market investments.
During the initial corporate vigilance inquiry, the accused reportedly stonewalled internal auditors and deliberately concealed critical financial evidence regarding the money trail. The official complaint filed with the CBI stated that Kolhatkar “did not provide complete bank account details during the vigilance inquiry, preventing investigators from establishing the complete money trail”. Despite this initial administrative obstruction, Kolhatkar ultimately confessed to posting the fabricated accounting entries without valid supporting invoices. These critical admissions provided the fundamental evidentiary basis required for the vigilance department to escalate the matter to central law enforcement.
Regulatory Action and Criminal Proceedings
Moving legally against a senior official functioning within a state-regulated entity requires strict statutory compliance and high-level administrative clearance. Consequently, the CBI officially lodged the criminal case only after securing the mandatory prior approval required under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. This critical legal sanction was formally granted by Chakresh Kumar Jain, the executive director of finance and the designated competent disciplinary authority operating at IOCL. The formal administrative approval letter also contained explicit directives for federal investigators to thoroughly examine the operational roles of the beneficiary vendors.
Law enforcement authorities have adopted a stringent legal approach, ensuring the perpetrators face severe judicial consequences for defrauding a prominent state-owned enterprise. The investigating agency has explicitly invoked harsh provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act to address the blatant misuse of official corporate authority. Additionally, the CBI has registered substantive offenses relating to criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and the deliberate falsification of accounts under the newly implemented Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The ongoing forensic financial probe aims to fully dismantle the illicit network and potentially recover the misappropriated corporate assets.
