Mumbai: The Oshiwara police registered an FIR against Mahidra Joshi, 43, manager of an Indian Oil petrol pump, for allegedly embezzling Rs1.20 crore from the petrol pump’s accounts. He was responsible for maintaining the records and managing online payments as well.
An accountant discovered that more than a crore had been embezzled, and subsequently, the supervising manager filed a complaint against Joshi with the Oshiwara police. The police registered the case on July 6.
According to the FIR, the Indian Oil petrol pump is located at Adarsh Nagar, Jogeshwari West. Mahidra Joshi had been working at the petrol pump as the assistant manager from 2019 to February 2025. During this period, Joshi was responsible for all money-related transactions. In January, the petrol pump owner Kunal Chheda hired Kavin Gada as an accountant.
The new accountant examined old records and discovered that from April 2024 to February 2025, money was transferred from the petrol pump’s three bank accounts to Joshi’s account and that of his friend, Sanjay Bagal.
The amount came from the sale of petrol and diesel, which was supposed to be credited daily to the petrol pump’s accounts but was found to be misappropriated. The total amount embezzled was Rs 1.20 crore. The accountant informed the seniors and the owner of the petrol pump.
They conducted an internal inquiry and further discovered that Rs 83.70 lakh had been transferred online from the petrol pump’s HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank, and ICICI Bank accounts to Joshi’s HDFC and Axis Bank accounts, as well as to Bagal’s ICICI Bank account. Apart from this, Rs 36.34 lakh in cash was siphoned off from daily cash transactions.
The petrol pump owner, Kunal Chheda, confronted Joshi, who admitted that he had invested the money in the share market. He claimed he would sell his native property and return the entire amount within three months.
Chheda agreed to this and waited until June 2025. Consequently, on behalf of the petrol pump, Bhavesh Maru, 48, the supervising manager, filed a complaint against Joshi at the Oshiwara police station. The police registered the case under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust).
