Unit-12 of the Mumbai police crime branch has arrested two alleged criminals, both well educated, who meticulously procured chequebooks from four banks by using fraudulent means and then bought jewellery worth lakhs by issuing forged cheques.
“The accused are Tejprasad Mishra alias Babloo (31), a resident of Vasai (east) and Sachin Mishra (31), a resident of Nallasopara (east). Both are graduates and in the past were arrested and sent to jail in four other cases. Another accomplice, a postgraduate, is wanted in the case,” said Milind Khetle, senior inspector of the unit.
“The trio made friends with an agent who was entrusted with the work of collecting bills and cheques dropped by people in dropboxes. With the help of the agent, they made photocopies of some signed cheques and chose Ladda & Ladda Company as their target,” said assistant inspector, Vishwas Rao.
Posing as an employee of the company, they made a phone call to the Canara Bank’s branch in New Marine Lines where the company had an account. They parroted the details mentioned on the signed cheques to win their confidence and lied that their chequebook has been misplaced and hence they need another.
The trio then submitted a written application to the Canara Bank on a fake letterhead of the company. Following this, they used an unemployed man to submit the application for the chequebook and asked him to pick it up from the bank. “On acquiring the chequebook, they researched for jewellers who had accounts with the Canara Bank. They went on to dupe Sunil Zaveri, a Malad-based jeweller, who also has an account with the bank. They said that the company is interested in investing in gold and collected valuables worth `13.75 lakh by issuing forged cheques,” added Mr Rao.