Four persons were arrested by the Mumbai crime branch on Thursday for allegedly stealing cheques sent through post, depositing them in fake accounts and withdrawing money. Among the four arrested was an employee of the postal department, who would allegedly steal cheques from the post office and hand them over to the other three who would encash them. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dilip Sawant, said: “The postal department employee was in the sorting section and had access to cheques that were sent through post. He would check the post and envelopes that contained cheques and keep them aside. He would later hand these over to the three accused whose job was to encash them.” An officer said Sunil Yerpude (50), employed in the airmail division at Sahar, would receive cheques from NRIs, people paying their monthly installments or contributions to NGOs. “In cases where the cheques were account payee only, the accused would erase the names from the cheques and then deposit those in accounts they had created in banks using forged paperwork,” Sawant said. Assistant Police Inspector, L Salunke, said, “The accused would get the mobile numbers of the victims given to the banks changed so that they did not get alerts on their phones in case the cheques were encashed.” An officer said while Yerpude has not been arrested in the past, the three other accused, Sanjay Jain, Sohan Bahnavat and Gyan Chand Periyan, had been arrested by the crime branch in connection with a similar offence in 2012. The accused had become active over the last few months, with several cases being registered against him from across the city. An officer said when they arrested the accused, they had 46 cheques, which they had stolen from the post office. “The value of the cheques was anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 15 lakh. We are trying to find out if other employees of the postal department or any bank employees were involved,” an officer said. The crime branch would write to the postal department, informing it about the loopholes in the system, so the security can be improved. The accused were produced in a local court and remanded in police custody till October 11.
