Two held for stealing cheques worth Rs 2 cr

A 21-year-old woman and her colleague were arrested by the Marine Drive police for allegedly stealing cheques worth Rs 2 crore from the company they worked in.

A 21-year-old woman and her colleague were arrested by the Marine Drive police for allegedly stealing cheques worth Rs 2 crore from the company they worked in.

HT Image

The police said the duo was caught only when the bank cross-checked with the company before clearing the transaction. Anita Patkar (21) and Ajay Pandge (27) worked as accountants at the engineering firm, Shanbhulal A Shah & Co, located in Atlanta building at Nariman Point.

The Marine Drive police said Patkar, a Parel resident, had stolen cheques worth Rs 50 lakh on August 13, and after that three more cheques worth Rs 1.5 crore, and given them to Pandge to get them encashed.

“Pandge then got the company’s chairman to sign the cheques and deposited them in Citibank at Fort. When the bank checked with company chairman Nikunj Shah, he denied any knowledge of the cheques,” said Inspector A. Shingte, investigating officer of the case.

Shah was then told about the fraud and the transaction stopped.

“We conducted enquiries with the 50 employees of the firm and zeroed in on Pandge and Patkar. We arrested them on Tuesday,” added Shingte.

The two were presented before the court on Wednesday and remanded in police custody.