A cashier of National Sports Club of India (NSCI), Worli, Sumedh Lade (42) has been arrested by Tardeo police on charges of alleged fraud. He has been accused of embezzling ₹24.40 lakh from the upmarket club.
According to the police, the manager of the club Manisha Ghosalkar lodged a complaint with the police that Lade, who worked as a cashier in the club, had embezzled the money collected as fees from members. Instead of depositing the money in the bank he helped himself to it.
The police said Ms Ghosalkar told Lade on Friday that he had to deposit the money in the bank which was to be used to give Deepavali bonus to the employees. Lade deposited only ₹5.5 lakh in the club's savings account in Union Bank of India.
After depositing ₹5.5 lakh, Ms Ghosalkar asked Lade to deposit more money. Lade reportedly told the manager that whatever cash he had was kept in the club's locker and the key was with Ramesh Gupta, the other cashier.
Lade told the manager that when Gupta would report for work at 3pm on Friday, he would deposit the money in the bank.
After this, at 3pm Ms Ghosalkar again called Lade and asked whether he had deposited the money or not, but Lade could not give a satisfactory reply.
After this, Lade came to the manager's cabin and said that the money kept in the club's locker was stolen. The manager then called in the administrative heads Ashok Bamrecha and Mohan Gidwani.
Accused confesses to stealing money
When they closely questioned Lade about the money, he broke down and confessed that he had stolen the money which was to be deposited in the bank.
Mr Gupta said Lade had collected a total of ₹41.90 lakh in cash from November 4 to November 10. Mr Gupta said out of ₹41.90 lakh lying with the club, Lade has used ₹24.40 lakh for himself.
On the complaint of NSCI Club, the police arrested Lade and produced him before a court which remanded him to police custody.
An officer of Tardeo police said that we are investigating whether Lade committed this fraud alone or others are also with him.
