Crime Intelligence Unit arrests CA in a defamation probe

A chartered accountant in Mumbai has been arrested for allegedly providing documents to an unidentified person who posted defamatory content on social media. The person claimed that firms related to a prominent industrialist illegally deposited ₹3,000 crore. The accused CA is accused of giving the documents to the person, who forged bank statements to defame the company. The police are still searching for the person who posted the content.

MUMBAI: The Mumbai police’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) on Sunday arrested a chartered accountant from Andheri in connection with a case where an unidentified person put up a post on social media platform ‘X’, allegedly to defame a company and its owner.

HT Image

The unidentified person, in his social media post, had alleged that ₹3,000 crore was illegally deposited by firms related to a prominent industrialist. The arrested CA, identified as Mohit Jain, 30, stands accused of giving certain documents to this person. Jain was produced in court on Sunday and has been remanded to police custody till January 30.

The person who posted from @satya_karmaa on X had, allegedly with malicious intention, forged bank statements between October 2023 and December 2023 and mentioned the firm’s name to defame it while tagging an online newspaper, said the police, adding that he hid his name with malicious intention to defame the personal and social reputation of the complainant. The police are still looking for him.

The FIR was registered last December after one of the firm’s partners learnt about the social media post. He approached the South Cyber police station and based on his statement, an FIR was registered on charges of cheating, forgery, destruction of evidence and other relevant sections of the IPC and IT act.

During the investigation, it was found that the bank statement of the firm was obtained without its permission, and an unknown person had spread the data by forging documents on social media with the intention of reducing the firm’s business credit. The police found that the bank statement was given to the arrested accused by one of the bank’s employees, and alleged that Jain used the information for financial gain.

The police have not found any involvement of any other industrialists’ firms or the complainant’s firm.