June 25, 2019:

Two flats, a shop in Mira Road, gold and silver ornaments worth Rs 80 lakh and Rs 75 lakh in cash are among the assets sealed and seized by Cuffe Parade police probing a cheating case against an ex-director of 2 Reliance Group firms accused of cheating the group of Rs 17 crore.

 

The Cuffe Parade police on Friday filed a 752-pages-long chargesheet against Mukesh Shah, former senior manager of Isha Buildtech and Infratech, both companies belonging to the Reliance Group. Police had in March registered an offence against Shah after Reliance Group lodged a complaint that he had siphoned off Rs 16 crore from its accounts under pretext of carrying out repair works at Sea Wind building owned by the Ambani family in Cuffe Parade.

Police said they have submitted the chargesheet against Shah and his friend Mehbooba Moinuddin for cheating, forgery and criminal breach of trust. While Mehbooba is out on bail, Shah is in Arthur Road jail. Police have annexed statements of 35 witnesses, including bank officials, on how Shah hatched the conspiracy and forged signatures of four signatories to siphon off money. “We have collected ample technical and material evidence against Shah and Mehbooba. Further investigations are on,” said an officer on condition of anonymity.

On March 22, police arrested Shah, who was director of Isha Buildtech from 1998 to September 2018. In 2012, he was also made director of Isha Infratech and was an authorised signatory on fund transfer RTGS forms. There were four employees who were authorised signatories for RTGS forms. Isha Buildtech and Isha Infratech were responsible for maintenance and repairs of Sea Wind.

After repair works of June 2018, Shah resigned and stopped coming to office. He was replaced by a new director who, during audit, learnt that Shah, in the name of repairs, had carried out illegal transactions and money transfers from Reliance Group accounts without giving any work order. The police probe also showed the fraud amount to be Rs 17 crore as against the Rs 16 crore mentioned in the complaint.

Police said Shah transferred funds into Mehbooba’s account. They arrested her and seized Rs 75 lakh from her house. “We found she had bought flats and a shop in her son and daughter’s name,” police said.

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