Employee diverts ₹7 crore from Swiggy to online betting platform

A 23-year-old employee, Srikant K, from a financial services company has been arrested by Bengaluru police for allegedly diverting ₹7 crore from Swiggy. Srikant worked in the accounting support team and was responsible for managing payments, including electricity bills, for Swiggy across the state. Each month, Srikant was entrusted with ₹1 crore to ₹2 crore for this task. However, between June and December 2024, he allegedly transferred a total of ₹6.86 crore to an online betting platform, BetinExchange247.com, through a private IT company.

Swiggy discovered the fraudulent activity during its internal audit process. The audit revealed suspicious transactions where approximately ₹7 crore was deposited into the account of BetinExchange247.com. The food delivery giant reported the matter to its senior executive, Showri Rajan, who then filed a complaint with the Ashok Nagar police, accusing Srikant of criminal breach of trust and cheating.

Following the complaint, an investigation was initiated. During questioning, Srikant reportedly admitted to the fraudulent transfers, acknowledging that he had diverted funds for personal use. The investigation revealed that the funds were transferred from Swiggy’s account to the online betting company over several months, going undetected due to the regular payments made for electricity bills. The private IT company, which handled some of Swiggy's payment processing, is believed to have played a role in facilitating the transfer of funds.

The financial services company involved had been providing accounting support to multiple clients, including Swiggy. The company handled various financial tasks, such as processing utility payments, which involved large sums of money. Srikant’s position granted him significant access to the company’s funds, and the alleged fraud occurred without immediate detection due to the routine nature of the transactions.

Swiggy has confirmed that it took immediate steps to notify authorities once the fraud was discovered, and the company is fully cooperating with the investigation. Srikant has been charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal breach of trust and cheating, with further legal actions expected as the investigation continues.

This incident adds to the growing number of financial fraud cases in Bengaluru. In December 2024, a similar incident occurred involving Navi Technologies, a fintech startup co-founded by Sachin Bansal, the former co-founder of Flipkart. In that case, fraudsters exploited a bug in the system to scam the company out of ₹14.26 crore.