An accountant working in a share-trading firm was arrested for allegedly siphoning off Rs 2.73 crore, police said on Sunday. The Mumbai crime branch arrested the accused, Manish Maurya, from the western suburb of Kandivali on Saturday based on a complaint lodged by his employer at MRA Marg police station in January last year, an official said.
As per the complaint, Maurya opened a demat account of his associate Rakesh Vishwakarma through his company Satco Capital Market Ltd. Later, Maurya made a bogus bank cheque entry claiming that Vishvakarma has invested an amount in the company. He later transferred 2.73 crore in Vishvakarma’s bank account without buying or selling any shares between year 2019 and 2021.
In December 2021, the company came to the know that there was something wrong with the money transactions. Meanwhwile, Maurya stopped coming to the office, after which the company lodged an FIR in this matter at the MRA Marg police station. During an investigation police learned that the accused has changed his residential address and started staying at another place in Kandivali.
Inspector Shashikant Pawar, in-charge of property cell, said that to nab the accused, they spread a fake message among the stock market brokers group in Kandivali area that a person from Gujarat is investing huge amount in stock market and is looking for a reliable broker.
"Two days ago he contacted one of our members and a meeting was fixed for Saturday. We caught him and brought him to the unit office where he confessed to the crime,” he said.
Pawar added that during Maurya's interrogation, he said that he got his share of Rs1.5 crore in the fraud, while the remaining amount was with Vishwakarma, who lives in Palghar area. The accused was handed over to MRA Marg Police Station for further legal process. Maurya’s associate Vishvakarma is still on the run.
A case under section 420 (cheating) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act has been registered, the official added.
(To receive our E-paper on WhatsApp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
