The Economic Offences Wing (Unit I) of the Navi Mumbai Police is on the lookout for an accountant who swindled ₹5.64 crore from a realty firm’s bank account from 2016. The employers filed a complaint against the accused and the APMC police registered an FIR. The accused has been identified as Chanky Rajkumar Manglani.
The complainant, Anand Vilas Patil, along with four others had started Vastu Builders and Developers and opened an office in Satra Plaza building in APMC. In 2014, they appointed Mr. Manglani as an accountant. He was given the details of all the bank accounts and passwords of the firm.
Senior inspector Shyam Shinde said, “From 2017, he allegedly embezzled the firm’s money by preparing fake invoices for orders given to construction material suppliers. He told the vendors that the firm needed the payment in cash. He used to either visit the vendor and take the cash or ask the vendor to visit him at the office and hand over the money to him. He started collecting cash from around 25 vendors since January 2017.”
The complainant also alleged that the accused had forged his signature on cheques and misused passwords of the firm’s Real Estate Regulatory Authority account and transferred money to his own account.
The fraud came to light on November 24 when one of the vendors came to the office with cash. Mr. Manglani was not present in office and the vendor handed over the money to the complainant.
Mr. Shinde said, “The partners verified the accounts and learnt that the accused had swindled large amounts of money. They then called Mr. Manglani and asked him to meet them the next day. On learning that his bosses had come to know about the fraud, Mr. Manglani fled from his house in Ulhasnagar. He is still untraceable. The partners after waiting for a few days filed a complaint against the accused on November 29.”
The police said Mr. Manglani never allowed a junior accountant to work under him for more than three months out of fear of getting caught. Soon after a junior accountant was appointed, the accused would start finding faults in his work and convince the owners to sack him. The accused has been booked on charges of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and theft.
