Man who pilfered employer’s cash to clear debts arrested

Police in Mumbai arrested a man who stole ₹9.5 lakh from his employer, falsely claiming he was robbed. The accused admitted to sending the money to debtors.

MUMBAI: The Jogeshwari police have nabbed a 25-year-old man who fled with ₹9.5 lakh of his employer’s money. The accused initially cooked up a story about being robbed on the train by four persons but fled after the Government Railway Police (GRP) checked the CCTV footage and caught his lie.

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Nitesh Kumar Singh, a resident of Behram Baug in Jogeshwari West, admitted to the GRP that he had stolen the money and sent it to his debtors in his village. The GRP then asked the complainant, Mohammed Mohindoor Rehman, 38, to take Singh to the Amboli police to register an FIR; however, the Amboli police asked him to go to Jogeshwari police station. It was in the transit from one police station to the other that the accused pushed the complainant and ran away.

According to the Jogeshwari police, Rehman runs a garment business in partnership with one Kushal Jain from Jogeshwari. The duo had hired Singh through the reference of his brother, Rohit Kumar, a month ago. “Their employees carry cloth samples, take orders and even collect cheques and deposit them in banks,” said a police officer. “As Jain was out of town, he had asked Nitesh Kumar Singh to collect payments of ₹ ₹8 lakh and ₹1.5 lakh from two parties. Singh did that but when his employer tried to get in touch with him later, he found his phone switched off.”

Jain called his partner Rehman, who went to Singh’s house in Behram Baug but found it locked. “He was thinking about approaching the police when he got a call from Singh, who told him that four people had attacked him and robbed the money,” said the police officer.

Rehman then took Singh to the Bandra GRP. After checking the CCTV footage from Bandra to Andheri stations, they found that no such robbery had taken place. “Our staff then questioned Singh again, and owing to the discrepancies in his statements, caught his lie,” said the police officer. “He accepted that he had sent the money to six people from his village to whom he owed money. He transferred the money outside Jogeshwari railway station.”

The GRP told the complainant to visit Amboli police station, as the jurisdiction fell under city police. “The complainant then took Singh in an auto to Amboli police station,” said the police officer. “However, he was asked to go to Jogeshwari police station. Just as he was reaching Jogeshwari police station, Singh pushed him and fled from the auto.”

Rehman then went into the police station and registered a case against Singh under Section 408 of the Indian Penal Code for criminal breach of trust by a clerk or servant. “We have registered a case and nabbed the accused,” said Jayshri Gajbhiye, senior police inspector of Jogeshwari police station.