Office boy siphons off ₹85L using stolen cheque books and debit cards

The accused, Avinash Prabhakar Surve, allegedly stole the proprietor’s and the firm’s cheque books and the debit cards and transferred the money to his bank account, said a police officer

MUMBAI: A 40-year-old man from Badlapur was booked for allegedly siphoning off ₹84.58 lakh from a firm, where he worked as an office boy, between 2018 and 2021. The accused, Avinash Prabhakar Surve, allegedly stole the proprietor’s and the firm’s cheque books and the debit cards and transferred the money to his bank account, said a police officer.

Office boy siphons off ₹85L using stolen cheque books and debit cards

According to the police, Surve was an office boy in DJB Enterprises Private Limited, owned by Dinaaz Merchant, a resident of Marine Drive. Dinaaz was a senior citizen and relied on Surve’s assistance not only at the office but also at home, the police said. The incident came to light when Dinaaz’s son, Akheel Merchant, 43, a teacher in London who also happens to be her partner in the firm, visited her in April 2021 and looked into the accounts of his mother and the firm. “He found that there were additional transactions, amounting to ₹84.58 lakh, that weren’t accounted for,” the officer said. When Akheel asked Surve about the transactions, he was told that there was some problem and that the money would be credited back to the source accounts, he added.

The police said that when Akheel looked for Dinaaz’s and the firm’s cheque books and debit cards, they were missing, after which he asked her caretaker, Sujata More, about them and was told that Surve often used to walk into Dinaaz’s room and take whatever documents were required. “Akheel suspected that the cheque books and the debit cards were with Surve, which he used to siphon off the money, and confronted him in July 2021,” the officer said. Surve then accepted having transferred the money to his bank account and promised to return the funds, he added.

In January 2022, Dinaaz expired and Akheel returned to London. Surve kept assuring Akheel that he would return the money, but after a point, he stopped responding, the police said.

In July 2025, Akheel spoke to the accountant of the firm, gathered evidence for the unauthorized transactions carried out by Surve and approached the police on August 6. Based on Akheel’s complaint, the police registered a case against Surve under sections 381 (theft) and 408 (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.