Mumbai: The Santacruz police have arrested a 31-year-old operations manager, Dinath Shetty, for allegedly embezzling Rs1.23 crore from Banana Leaf, a popular restaurant chain. Dinath, who managed five branches of the restaurant, was apprehended in Mangaluru and brought to Mumbai on a transit remand on October 15.
Banana Leaf Director Files FIR Against Operations Manager
According to the FIR, Suraj Shetty, director of Malgudi Foods, which operates Banana Leaf restaurants across India, filed a complaint against Dinath in September 2024. As operations manager, Dinath was entrusted with overseeing accounts, rental agreements, procurement of goods, and equipment for the restaurant’s five branches. The FIR alleges that between January 9, 2024, and May 1, 2024, Dinath siphoned off over a crore while working at the Juhu Tara Road branch in Santacruz West. At the time, he resided in Mira Road East.
Following the registration of the case, Dinath went off the grid, switching off his mobile phone, halting banking transactions, and ceasing social media activity to evade detection. The breakthrough in the case came when the Santacruz police obtained a CIBIL TransUnion report, which revealed that Dinath had taken loans from at least 10 banks, including a car loan. Using the car’s registration number, the police traced the vehicle to Mangaluru, where it had been flagged for traffic violations.
With assistance from the Mangaluru police, a team led by investigation officer Sarad Jadhav, under the supervision of crime police inspector Chandrakant Kamble and senior police inspector Yogesh Shinde, conducted a two-day operation in Mangaluru. Their efforts culminated in Dinath’s arrest, and he was subsequently brought to Mumbai for a three-day transit remand.
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