A 42-year-old clerk at the employees' co-operative credit society clerk of Small Causes court in south Mumbai has been arrested for allegedly defrauding the society to the tune of Rs 46 lakh. The accused, identified as Prasad Patil, was found depositing member's cheques in his name for the past couple of years without the knowledge of the society's president and treasurer.
Last week, the bank in which the society has its account alerted it when Patil deposited a cheque of Rs 4.5 lakh. During scrutiny, it was found that no such cheque was issued to Patil.
Being an employee of the society, Patil was not eligible for its schemes meant for members and he was not suppose to receive anything from the society other than salary, said a police officer.
Following this, the society conducted an audit from April 2021 to February this year and found that Patil had deposited five cheques total amounting ₹17.37 lakh.
They approached the LT Marg police which registered an offence of criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant (408) and cheating (420) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and arrested Patil. During investigation the total amount allegedly siphoned by Patil in this manner rose to ₹46 lakh.
The investigation revealed that being clerk Patil was responsible with the clerical work including that of handling cheques, taking signatures of its president and treasurer, and later handing it over to the member of deposit in their account.
As per the procedure, once the society approves a certain amount to a member, a cheque of the amount is being signed by its president and treasurer without the name of the payee. The police suspect that Patil used to put his name at the place of the payee and deposited cheque in his account.
