Mumbai Crime: Data MNC exec, CitiBank VP held for swindling Rs 2 crore

33-year-old woman rose meteorically to decision-making role in multinational corporation before duping her employers with her brother-in-law's help

Two corporate honchos, with their sharp management and banking expertise, respectively, swindled close to Rs 2 crore in a scam that came to light almost five years after it began. The two, arrested in July this year, were remanded in police custody by the Magistrate Court on Wednesday. The MIDC police, Andheri, had arrested Kaushalya Negi, assistant general manager (AGM), Datamatics, a US-based company and her brother-in-law Simmi Sebastian, vice-president, CitiBank for the fraud that was reported last year.

The scam first came to light when a vigilance department conducted the audit of Negi's company, Datamatics, in September 2018, and noticed some discrepancies with regard to the transfer of company funds. The vigilance team immediately informed the police about it and a case was registered after a primary investigation into the matter on July 27.

According to the police, Negi, 33, was employed by Datamatics in its Andheri East office in 2012. Considering her professional skills, Negi was given three rapid promotions elevating her to a high rank. Around 250 employees worked under her and she was part of the company's decision-making body.

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"She soon began hiring her close associates and relatives into the company. From 2012 to September 2018, she employed 46 people consisting of her friends, relatives, and colleagues. She also asked for most of their documents and opened their bank accounts. However, these people only stayed on the company's payroll, they never came to work," a police officer said.

"Negi would deposit small amounts (around R15,000 to 20,000) into these accounts each month. She would tell them that Datamatics was depositing the money into their accounts because she needed to save tax and had hence asked her employer to transfer some money to their account. Nobody ever questioned her," the officer added. The employees were not aware that they were part of a fraud company.

Fake company in Negi then took the help of Sebastian, 38, to together open a fake company named AXL Data Solutions in Panvel. She also created a bank account for AXL and transferred the money from these 46 people's accounts into AXL's account herself. "She could do this because she was operating their accounts herself. For the ones she wasn't operating, she would simply ask them to transfer saying the tax-saving had been done.

"Sebastian was the nominee in AXL. Negi's husband Milind Patil and Sebastian's wife Parmila's accounts too have been found to be associated with AXL's. This was happening for five years in connivance with other accused who are yet to be arrested," another officer privy to the investigation said. During the investigation, "we also found that four more bank accounts belonged to Negi and Sebastian and two more people are involved."

Awaiting forensic reports

After the vigilance team smelled the scam, Datamatics hired a private firm to scrutinise its servers and systems. "We are waiting for some reports from the forensic science laboratory. The total estimated fraud is of close to R2 crore but we suspect that the amount might be higher than reported to us," the officer said. The accused were booked and arrested under sections 406 (breach of trust), 419, 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 477(a) (falsification of accounts), and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the IT Act.

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Rs 15,000
Approximate amount transferred to each account Negi created

46
No. of fake employees Negi hired in the company

2012
Negi began hiring fake employees for Datamatics

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