The Thane police have arrested eight persons for allegedly cheating at least 50 people to the tune of Rs 10 crore in Maharashtra and other states by forging their bank cheques, a police officer said on Sunday. One of the accused, hailing from Gujarat, used to provide information to the other culprits about people having big balance accounts so as to target them, said Senior Inspector Shekhar Bagde of Manpada police station in Kalyan division.

“They would then generate fake cheques using a laptop and a printer and send them for clearance to banks to siphon off the money from the accounts of victims,” he said. Of eight accused, some were caught recently when they presented a cheque of Rs 34 crore at a bank in Manpada at Thane district for clearance. Later, the police nabbed their other accomplices also, the police officer said.