Mumbai: An 80-year-old man from Santacruz has filed a case against a chartered accountant (CA), and three others for allegedly embezzling Rs98.88 lakh. The CA Munnaza Parande obtained signatures on cheques from the society’s committee members under the pretext of withdrawing funds for the society’s staff salaries but diverted the money to her CA firm’s account. The case was lodged at Santacruz police station on May 8.
According to the police, the complainant, Purushottam Rohera, serves as the chairman of a residential building, Shamla Co-operative Society. In 2020, the society appointed Parande, the daughter of a deceased member, as its CA, entrusting her with overseeing the society’s financial affairs.
Parande acquired signatures from Rohera along with the society’s secretary, and treasurer on cheques pretending to withdraw money for the society’s staff salaries, leveraging the trust based on her father’s reputation.
In January, the society members discovered that Parande had broken the society’s fixed deposits and transferred the funds first to the society’s account and then to her CA firm’s bank account. She siphoned the money between September 2022 to October 2023 and presented fake passbooks to society members to cover her tracks.
Parande’s partner in the CA firm, Santosh Mane, along with firm employees Shena Maurya and Rajnish Roy, aided her in this fraudulent scheme. The police have filed charges against Parande, Mane, Maurya, and Roy under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
