Promised a 50% cut, Anil Thadani's accountant stole 50 cheques

Authorities from the property cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested an accountant of actress Raveena Tandon for stealing 50 cheques and withdrawing Rs 12.58 lakh. According to the cops, the accused, identified as Omprakash Lallan Pattak, had a loan and in an attempt to pay it off, withdrew the amount.

Omprakash Lallan Pattak (in red) was promised 50 per cent of the total share. Motivated, he stole 50 cheques from Anil Thadani and gave it to his friends Vishambar Mishra and Radhemohan Chaube. They in turn handed it over to the main accused Tazdar

The case came to light in September when Raveena's husband Anil Thadani approached the cops and complained that Rs 12.58 lakh had been transferred from his account into that of a Sumit Gupta without his consent (‘Conman trying to flee cops run over by bus', MiD DAY October 17).

Following the complaint, Additional Commissioner of Police Niket Kaushik began investigations and Sumit Gupta alias Mujjamil Alam Tazdar and Salim Usman Gani Sayyed were arrested. Investigations had revealed that Tazdar, a struggling model, was a master of disguise and possessed several fake PAN cards.

Further inquiries and investigations led the cops to 21-year-old Omprakash Lallan Pattak, who was an accountant and programmer with Thadani's AA Films company. Cops add that Pattak would handle all the bank transactions for the company and on July 20 had stolen 50 cheques from Thadani and then handed them over to his friends Sanjay Singh alias Bipin, Vishambar Mishra and Radhemohan Chaube. They, in turn, forged Thadani's signature and deposited the cheques with the help of Tazdar.

There were nine people involved in the scam. Raveena's employee Pattak, a resident of Poisar, with his friends got involved. Initially, Pattak would carry out small thefts, which would not be identified. However, later, he had a loan and in an attempt to get rid of it, he stole the money," said Inspector Nandkumar Gopale of the Property Cell of the Crime Branch.

Explaining further, Assistant Inspector Dilip Phulpagare added, "The three recently arrested Pattak, Mishra and Chaube got in touch with Tazdar, who was already operating a huge online money scam. We have come across 12 cases in which Tazdar has illegally transferred funds." Phulpagare said that Pattak was promised 50 per cent of the amount as his share, so he was motivated to steal the cheques. The Thadani family helped Pattak buy a house in Kandivli but he still carried out the theft.u00a0