Two employees booked for duping online grocery app of ₹79L

Bhandup police book two employees of online grocery app for duping company of ₹79.27 lakh through inflated transport bills. Investigation ongoing.

MUMBAI: The Bhandup police have booked two employees of an online grocery shopping app for allegedly duping the online shopping app of ₹79.27 lakh by submitting inflated bills by the transporters. The complaint was filed by kaushlendra Singh, the hub manager at the Bhandup West warehouse.

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The fraud was unearthed when an audit was conducted based on the statement given by the hub manager of the firm. The accused are identified as Dhruv Desai and Mehash Menon. The police registered a case under sections 420 and 408, 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

The complainant alleged that Desai, who worked as transport manager since 2018, had appointed around 12 to 15 transporters for the company. There are three to four people who verified the bills, including Desai, and then they sent the same to the finance department to clear the amount.

During an audit, it was found that a transporter had submitted 13 bills totalling around ₹9.26 lakh to be paid, but it was revealed that the transporter had been paid a total of ₹14.41 lakh. An official stated that the amount on the bills had been inflated by ₹5.15 lakh.

After an enquiry with the transporters, it was found that transport manager Desai and transport executive Mahesh Menon of the firm were involved in the alleged cheating. It was discovered that they instructed the vendors to inflate the bill amounts, and once the firm settled the payment, both individuals allegedly pocketed the excess funds from the vendors.

The transport owners alleged in the statement that the accused had threatened to terminate their agreement with the company if they did not comply with instructions, said the FIR.

Suspecting foul play, the auditors checked transactions between January 2022 to June 2024 of the bill submitted by Desai to the company. They used to send the bills to the finance department and were duped by submitting the bills of higher amount to the company around ₹79.27 lakh, the FIR added.

“The accused has not been arrested yet, but we have been investigating the matter and legal action will be taken soon,” said senior inspector, Dattatray Khandagle of the Bhandup police station.