Kalka, June 11 — A man has been booked for allegedly stealing and forging two cheques amounting to ₹2.94 lakh from the Punjab National Bank (PNB) Kalka branch, according to police. The incident is believed to have taken place over two weeks between March 3 and March 19, 2025.
An FIR was registered at the Kalka police station following a complaint by Ramesh Kumar Garg, the branch manager of PNB Kalka. Garg reported that two cheques—one for ₹1,44,628 deposited by an individual named Anita and another for ₹1,49,721 issued to a local firm, M/s Kanhaiya Lal Brij Lal—had gone missing from the branch during the mentioned period.
An internal investigation by the bank led to the identification of the accused, Harsh Sharma, who is alleged to have deposited both cheques into his personal accounts held at Union Bank of India branches in Parwanoo and Sector 11, Panchkula. Bank officials say that Sharma went on to withdraw ₹1.20 lakh from one of the accounts shortly after the funds were credited.
“The cheques were deliberately stolen and altered. The payee names were forged to facilitate the fraudulent deposits,” Garg stated in his complaint.
Based on the findings, Kalka police have registered a case against Sharma under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 303 (theft), Section 318(4) (cheating and dishonesty), Section 336(3) (forgery for the purpose of cheating), Section 338 (forgery of valuable securities), and Section 340 (use of a forged document as genuine).
Garg also claimed that he initially approached local police with the matter, but no action followed. It was only after he submitted a written complaint to the Deputy Commissioner of Police on March 20 that the FIR was finally lodged.
The investigation into the alleged financial fraud is ongoing.
