Mumbai Two people have been arrested for an alleged attempt to dupe Shiv Sena MLA Ajay Chaudhary from Sewri constituency.
The accused allegedly tried to transfer ₹78 lakh from the Sena leader’s bank account by using a bogus cheque with his forged signature. The fraud came to light when the bank officials contacted Chaudhary to verify the authenticity of the cheque before processing it.
The accused have been identified as Suketu Rameshchandra Dave, 47, a resident of Ahmadabad and Jayesh Chandrakant Shah, 54, a resident of Mahavir Nagar, Kandivali. Anand Mule, a senior inspector of Kalachowki police station, confirmed the development.
The complainant Chaudhary, a resident of Parel village, has a savings account in the Union Bank of India’s Lalbaug branch, where his salary is credited. According to the cops, the bank officials at the Naranpura branch in Ahmedabad contacted the manager of the Lalbaug branch after receiving the cheque for clearance.
On Wednesday, the manager of the Lalbaug branch contacted Chaudhary’s personal assistant and informed him that the bank’s Ahmedabad branch had received a cheque for ₹78 lakh issued by the MLA. As Chaudhary was busy in a meeting, he asked his son Siddhesh to co-ordinate with the bank manager. On his father’s instructions, Siddhesh informed the manager that his father had not issued the cheque for ₹78 lakh to anyone and requested the bank officials to not process it.
Later, the bank officials emailed photos of the cheque and deposit slip to Chaudhary. After perusing the documents, Chaudhary informed the bank that the signature on the said cheque was forged, and also the bank never issued a cheque book with the serial numbers printed on the cheque to him.
Chaudhary requested the bank to destroy the bogus cheque and on Thursday filed a police complaint, an officer said. The police have registered a case under sections 464 (making of a false document in the name of a fictitious person, intending it to be believed that the document was made by a real person), 465 (forgery), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 420 (cheating) and 511 (attempt to commit offences punishable with imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code.