Powai police have arrested a 40-year-old woman for allegedly defrauding a multinational investment bank and financial services company to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore. Police said the woman, who worked with the company for 16 years as a personal assistant (PA) to an executive director, fraudulently defrauded them by purchasing gift vouchers in the name of the company.
The woman Manpreet Shahani was apprehended from her house in Kandivali. Police said Shahani was in charge of ordering the gift vouchers on behalf of the company.
“The company has a policy of rewarding its performing employees with gift vouchers. They will be either Rs 3,000 or Rs 1,000 depending on their performance. Heads of every department across India will approach Shahani for gift cards as he was entrusted with the responsibility of ordering gift cards for the company,” said an official.
During investigation, the police came to know that Shahani used to order excess vouchers and she used to take the extra vouchers home and encash them.
Police said he committed the crime from 2016 to 2018. However, the incident came to light in January 2019, when the company’s administration department came to know about some suspicious transactions from his bank account.
Shahani had ordered 2,600 gift cards worth Rs 29.90 lakh in November 2018. Since there was no demand for such gift cards from any department across India, the administration department found something wrong and reported the matter to the higher officials of the bank.
“Shahani was on sick leave when the crime came to light, however, when the administration department approached him to inquire about the transaction, he reportedly told them that the gift cards were only in the office. Then she went and put those 2,600 gift cards in the office. He later resigned and left the job in February 2019,” said an official.
The Vigilance Department of the company found that it had misused this process over the years and had fraudulently obtained gift cards worth Rs 3.5 crore.
The company’s vice-chairman reported the matter to the Powai police station on January 17, 2020, following which a case was registered under sections 408 (criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.
“Shahani came to know that a case was registered against him following which he approached the trial court and later the sessions court for anticipatory bail. His petition was rejected. The Bombay High Court had also recently rejected his application on April 30 and since then we were on the lookout for him,” said an investigator.
Last week, police came to know that she was at her Kandivali residence after which a team went to her house on Tuesday morning and arrested her.
Powai police station senior police inspector Budhan Sawant confirmed the arrest but declined to divulge more details about the case.