Mumbai, November 3, 2026: The Ghatkopar police have registered a case against four employees of Urban Tadka restaurant at Phoenix Marketcity Mall, Kurla, for allegedly cheating their employer of approximately Rs 35 lakh by manipulating billing records, diverting customer payments and misusing their official positions for personal financial gain.
According to the FIR, the complainant, Rohit Bhupendra Bhatia, 40, is the General Manager of Yellow Banana Food Company Pvt. Ltd., which operates a chain of 11 Urban Tadka restaurants. Bhatia oversees the operations of the restaurant chain on behalf of the company.
On October 5, Bhatia approached the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ghatkopar Division, with a complaint alleging financial irregularities at the company's Urban Tadka outlet in Phoenix Marketcity Mall, Kurla.
Internal Investigation Reveals Billing Irregularities
The complaint stated that on October 1, 2026, Akash Goswami, an employee who had earlier worked at the Kurla outlet and was then posted at the company's Panvel restaurant, met Bhatia at the company's Thane office. He allegedly informed him that Amir Khan, the assistant manager at the Kurla outlet, was cheating the company with the assistance of other employees.
Following the information, the company conducted an internal investigation and asked its IT department to carry out a technical analysis of the restaurant's data for the preceding three months. The examination allegedly revealed discrepancies in Kitchen Order Tickets (KOTs) and Bar Order Tickets (BOTs).
When questioned, Amir Khan allegedly admitted to manipulating restaurant operations for personal financial gain with the assistance of three other employees, Arvind Goswami, Phaleshwar Yadav and Devendra Singh, the FIR stated.
Multiple Methods Allegedly Used To Divert Revenue
The company's investigation allegedly revealed several methods used to divert revenue. These included collecting payments from customers without generating bills for food and liquor, creating temporary bills in the restaurant's billing system and subsequently deleting them, and accepting payments directly into personal UPI and bank accounts.
The accused also allegedly misused the billing software by generating inflated bills in customers' names, deliberately avoiding bill generation during peak hours and collecting cash directly from customers without recording the transactions in the company's system.
Bank Transactions Reveal Money Trail
As part of its investigation, the company obtained and examined the bank statements of the four employees. The scrutiny allegedly revealed UPI transactions worth Rs 4.36 lakh in Amir Khan's account, Rs 8.10 lakh in Arvind Goswami's account, Rs 4.02 lakh in Phaleshwar Yadav's account and Rs 3.27 lakh in Devendra Singh's account during the current year.
The FIR further alleges that the accused admitted to collecting approximately Rs 15 lakh to Rs 16 lakh in cash from customers during the year through the alleged fraudulent practices.
Four Employees Booked Under BNS
Based on Bhatia's complaint and the preliminary inquiry, the police registered an FIR against Amir Khan, Arvind Goswami, Phaleshwar Yadav and Devendra Singh under Sections 316(2), 316(4), 318(4) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
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The four employees have been accused of allegedly conspiring to abuse their positions of trust and systematically divert restaurant revenue, causing the company an estimated financial loss of Rs 35 lakh.
Further investigation is underway.
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