₹85 lakh withdrawn from trust accounts using forged cheques, FIR registered
Nagpada police filed an FIR after ₹85 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn from Habib Group accounts using forged cheques. Investigation ongoing.
MUMBAI: The Nagpada police have registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the branch manager of a private bank alleging that over ₹85 lakh had been withdrawn from several bank accounts of the Habib Group of Trusts using forged cheques.
According to the police, the complainant, Sandesh Nakate, 49, worked as a manager since 2006 in Axis Bank, Byculla Branch till June 2023. In December 2023, the branch received a complaint from Habib Group Trusts that its cheques were used to withdraw money using forged signatures. The complaint letter was forwarded to the bank’s head office for detailed inquiry.
During the bank’s internal investigation, it was found that the bank had been defrauded, and a complaint was lodged with the Nagpada Police Station in April 2024 against the employee who was handling the chequebooks of Trusts to withdraw cash for forging cheques.
The Habib Group of Trusts has 11 savings and current accounts in the Byculla branch of Axis Bank and five bank accounts in the Mazgaon Branch.
The trustee claimed in the complaint to the bank that 1,043 cheques were stolen from the trust’s office between 2020 and 2023, and money was withdrawn with forged signatures from bank accounts at the Byculla branch. The bank manager stated in the FIR that during those three years, the trust had never reported any unauthorized withdrawals using forged signatures.
The team conducted an internal investigation and found out that ₹85,02,938 of the Habib Group of Trusts had withdrawn from the bank on forged signatures and non-observation of office procedures. The bank took responsibility and after approval from the bank senior official they returned the amount of ₹53,20,770 lakh to Habib Group of Trusts, out of which ₹40,10,770 has been refunded to the trusts through demand draft and ₹13,10,000 lakh is yet to be paid for technical reasons, the FIR stated.
The approved proposal states that the remaining amount of ₹31,82,168 lakh is to be returned to the Trusts, as mentioned in the FIR. It was discovered during the investigation that a woman, appointed on behalf of the Habib Group of Trusts, was responsible for handling the cash. She used to visit the bank to collect the cash, according to police inspector Prabodhan Yejare of the Nagpada police station.
The case has been registered under the section of cheating and forgery of the IPC based on the complaint given by bank manager. “We are investigating the office bearers of the trust and bank employees to find out who was involved in the cheating and appropriate legal action will be taken against them,” said Yejare.