Former employees of logistics firm booked for ‘stealing’ client base

Towards the end of 2014, Flomic approached the Cyber Crime Police Station in the Bandra Kurla Complex with a complaint against four former manager-level employees as well as some of its former junior staff.

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“Flomic, in its complaint, stated that over a six- to eight-month period in 2014, several of their employees working at various levels and in various branches quit their jobs and joined one of three firms; Berrio Logistics, RSV Logistics and Cargo Trans Solutions. Around the same time, several of Flomic’s clients based in India as well as in other various countries including Italy, Singapore and China started withdrawing their business. A further inquiry revealed that the accused former employees had stolen their client base,” said a police officer.

Inquiries revealed that all employees of Flomic, upon joining the company, are given a laptop computer, a BlackBerry handset, a SIM card and a memory card for company use, and that the computer, handset and memory card contain confidential data about the company’s clients, rates and other official information.

Every employee is hence required to sign a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement upon joining. After making preliminary inquiries, the Cyber Police Station registered a complaint against all the accused named in Flomic’s complaint under the Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.

“When we raided the offices of Berrio and RSV, we seized and analysed their computers, which showed a clear trail of emails exchanged among themselves as well as with former clients of Flomic, now clients of these companies. The directors of both the companies, while still in the employ of Flomic, established new companies with their relatives as directors and slowly stole Flomic’s client base. They spread reports about Flomic being in financial trouble, and advised clients to shift their business to either RSV or Berrio. The directors of Berrio even claimed that Berrio was a sister concern of Flomic,” the officer added.

Based on the email trail and statements recorded from various people working with Flomic, RSV and Berrio, the Cyber Police Station will arrest Vinay Singh and Ronald D’Mello, directors of RSV Logistics; and Deepakkumar Upadhyay and Harilal Nair, directors of Berrio Logistics. The police are simultaneously conducting inquiries against directors of Cargo Trans, said officers.

When contacted, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) KMM Prasanna confirmed that the case was being investigated by the Cyber Police since late 2014, and added, “We have conducted investigations and gathered evidence, and we will soon arrest the accused.”

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com