Duo uses fake cheques to take Rs 81 lakh out of NRI's account

Representational picture of fake currency

The LT Marg police have arrested two members of a gang involved in using fake cheque books to withdraw hefty amounts of money from bank accounts. The accused Pradeep Lalchand Tailor, 34, and Yogendra Ranjeetmal Lodha, 40, were held thanks to an alert assistant general manager of the bank, whose customer's account was looted of Rs 81 lakh. The police are looking for the mastermind and another accomplice of the duo and suspect the involvement of bank staff.

Pradeep Tailor and Yogendra Lodha who were arrested

AGM gets suspicious

Atul Pratap Udaypal Singh, the AGM, got suspicious on July 17, as the duo had transferred R81 lakh from the account of an NRI customer of the bank, Hazra Memon - who stays at Dubai - through a cheque given to the Bullion Exchange branch of another bank in Mumbai. "The accused put the fake cheque for R62 lakh into the account of Coco Exim Private Limited. Two self cheques were also submitted to withdraw in all R19 lakh cash from the account on July 17. A day later, the R62 lakh was transferred from the account of Coco Exim to the account of Dhruvin Enterprises in another bank's Mira-Bhayandar branch," said a police officer.

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Taken to police station

"The AGM was alarmed after the withdrawal from Memon's account and kept watch on it. On July 26, the duo visited the bank again and the staff called us on the police emergency number. We sent a team to the branch and hauled the duo to LT Marg police station," the officer added. They were arrested that day. The investigating team found Coco Exim Pvt Ltd and Dhruvin Enterprises were fake companies.

Police speak

Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Rajiv Jain said, "The duo have been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. Further investigations are underway." Both the arrested accused are natives of Ajmer. Lodha stays in Goregaon (East) while Tailor stays in Bhayandar. An officer said the mastermind and an accomplice are yet to be arrested. "The involvement of bank staff cannot be ruled out," an officer added. "Generally fraudsters get the cheque details of a bank account. With the help of bank staff they get to know the balance in the account and then procure a fake cheque book to transfer the money," said another police officer.

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Rs 81 lakh
The amount that they stole

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