Cashier held for siphoning off ₹24.40L from sports club

A cashier from NSCI Worli in Mumbai was arrested for allegedly stealing ₹24.40 lakh from the club's safe. The police suspect he may have taken more money.

Mumbai: A cashier from the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) Worli was arrested for allegedly siphoning off ₹24.40 lakh from the club’s cashier safe. The police said they suspect the accused might have taken more money and have called for his bank account details.

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The accused was identified as Sumedh Labade, 42, a resident of Powai Chowk, Mulund Colony.

The case was registered against him by the general manager of the club, said police sources. “As the club wanted to give its staff bonus, the general manager asked for cash from Labade. He transferred ₹5.5 lakh, however, the general manager required more cash, so he asked him to transfer more cash,” said a police officer.

The cash of the club comes from the rental yield of rooms, hall, consumer stores, fees from members, coaching revenue, turf, etc., said the police officer.

Initially, Labade told the general manager that the rest of the cash was with Ramesh Gupta, another cashier who would come in the afternoon, but Gupta was not answering his calls.

“When the general manager questioned Labade that the normal procedure was to give cash and then go home, so the rest of the cash, deposited by Gupta, should have been with you, Labade could not answer and kept silent,” said the police officer.

“After an hour Labade came to the general manager and told him the cash had been stolen from his office. Later when the general manager called club staff head Ashok Barmecha and Mohan Gidwani before him, Labade accepted that he had used the cash for personal purposes.”

A case was registered against Labade under section 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant) of the Indian Penal Code.

“We arrested him as he was uncooperative during the investigations and refused to share where he had kept the ₹24 lakh. From November 4 to 10, Labade had collected ₹41.91 lakh for the club, he gave ₹5.5 lakh to the general manager for bonus and ₹12 lakh is kept in the cashier safe so the remaining he has spent,” said the police officer. The police have remanded him in police custody as Labade was uncooperative during investigations.