Former accountant tries to transfer Rs 78 lakh fraudulently, arrested

The accused was working as an accountant of a Kandivli based Jain Temple trust but had quit the job one and a half years ago

The Samta Nagar police have arrested a 29-year old former accountant of a Kandivli based Jain Temple trust while he was trying to fraudulently transfer Rs 78 lakh into his account. The accused, Darshan Vijaykumar Shah, is a resident of Mhada Colony in Charkop. He was arrested on the complaint of the temple trustee yesterday from SBI Bank at Liberty Garden in Malad.

According to police sources, Shah was working as an account of "Shree Ashok Gram Jain Temple Trust" situated at Ashok Chakravarthy Road, Kandivli(east) for last several years but he had quit the job around one and a half years ago.

"On Saturday, one of the trustees got a call from the bank whether the trust had issued a cheque of Rs 78 lakh. Since the said trustee was unaware, he inquired with other trustees but everyone refused. He then requested the bank officer to ask the person to come the next day so that he can inform the police in this regard," an officer from Samta Nagar police said.

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The police booked and registered a case under sections 420, 465 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code and laid a trap outside the bank. When the accused Shah came to withdraw the cheque, he was caught red-handed by the police. During interrogation, Shah revealed that while he was working for the trust, he had taken signatures of the trustees on the application form for new cheque book.

Soon after quitting the job, he applied for the cheque book and then forged the signatures of the trustee on it. When he tried to deposit one of the cheques worth Rs 78 lakhs, the bank officials found something amiss and they informed the trust.

As per the instructions of the trustee, the bank officials asked Shah to visit them for some query and he was arrested when he visited the bank to face the queries.

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