The money has been siphoned off from the bank accounts the medical institute has with the State Bank of India (SBI). The bank has initiated an internal enquiry into the matter.
A top placed source in Delhi Police told on the condition of anonymity, "This is a case of cyber crime. The accounts from which Rs 12 crore have been withdrawn are operated by the AIIMS director and the Dean. Rs 7 crore were withdrawn from the account operated by the Director whereas Rs 5 crore were withdrawn from the account held on the name of the Dean."
If sources are to be believed, the AIIMS in its report sent to the Union Health Ministry held responsible for the fraud.
The SBI has also alerted all its branches and advised its employees against paying high value cheques issued by AIIMS, New Delhi.
A Delhi Police source said: "The hospital administration has already informed the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police, which has initiated a probe."
A hospital source said that the fraudsters made attempts to siphon off over Rs 20 crore from SBI's non-home branch in Dehradun and Rs 9 crore from Mumbai in the last one week by allegedly using the cloned cheques. However, they failed in their attempts.
(Sanjeev Kumar Singh Chauhan can be contacted at sanjeev.c@.in)
( With inputs from IANS )