Navi Mumbai, April 14: A senior finance officer allegedly embezzled over Rs 3.51 crore from his company by diverting funds into his personal account using fake invoices and technical manipulation.
Following a complaint, the Economic Offences Wing of Navi Mumbai Police has registered a case of cheating and criminal breach of trust and launched a search for the accused.
Accused identified, FIR registered
The accused has been identified as Nikhil Virendrakumar Ajmani, who was working as Head of Finance at Momentum Services Pvt. Ltd., located in the Ghansoli MIDC area. Police have registered an FIR against him at Rabale MIDC Police Station.
Modus operandi involved fake invoices and account manipulation
According to police, Ajmani joined the company in February 2022 as a Finance Manager and was later promoted. During his tenure, he had access to upload Excel sheets for processing payments to vendor companies through internet banking.
Exploiting this access, he allegedly began, from July 2023, replacing vendor bank account details with his own in the Excel sheets, thereby diverting company funds to his personal account.
To avoid detection, Ajmani reportedly created fake invoices in the names of reputed companies such as Wipro Ltd. and Nagarro Software, which he submitted to the finance department. Additionally, he allegedly misused the company’s official credit card to transfer around Rs 3.58 lakh into his Paydeck wallet.
Continued fraud despite reduced access
Even after being promoted to Head of Finance and losing direct access to upload payment sheets, Ajmani allegedly gained the trust of a colleague, borrowed their laptop, and used their login credentials to continue siphoning off funds.
Fraud uncovered during internal audit
The fraud came to light when several vendor companies informed Momentum Services that they had not received pending payments. This prompted the company to conduct an internal probe and a forensic audit, which revealed that Ajmani had misappropriated approximately Rs 3.59 crore using forged invoices.
During internal questioning, Ajmani reportedly admitted to siphoning Rs 78.23 lakh and assured via email that he would return the money. However, he repaid only Rs 8 lakh before absconding with the remaining amount.
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Police launch manhunt
A police officer from the Economic Offences Wing said, “The accused misused his official position and technical access to divert large sums of money over a period of time. Efforts are underway to trace and apprehend him at the earliest.”
Based on the company’s complaint, the Economic Offences Wing has initiated an investigation and a manhunt is currently underway to locate the accused.
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