3 min readMumbaiSep 1, 2014 02:22 AM IST
First published on: Sep 1, 2014 at 02:22 AM IST
Two men attempted to pull off an audacious forgery at a nationalised bank in south Mumbai in mid-August after producing a Term Deposit Receipt (TDR) amounting to Rs 71.25 crore. The duo was apprehended after alarmed bank employees spotted the forgery and notified the
police. A search is underway for the forger.
The incident occurred on August 14, when the accused, Jitesh Ranawat (39) and Mukund Devlikar (44), walked into the Fort branch of UCO Bank at 1.30 pm. “Ranawat was in possession of a blue coloured TDR, which mentioned the name, address and account number of a Delhi-based man. He and Devlikar had been instructed to go inside the bank and verify with the Fixed Deposits section whether the account mentioned on the TDR existed at the bank branch,” said police sub inspector Vinayak Bhilare of the MRA Marg police station.
Alarmed at the amount mentioned on the receipt, a clerk at the fixed deposit section immediately showed the receipt to branch manager Jagdishprasad Gupta, who identified it as a fake, Bhilare said. Ranawat and Devlikar were placed under arrest after the police were called.
Investigations have revealed that Ranawat, who works in his brother-in-law’s dairy in Mumbai, had received the receipt by post on August 13, with instructions to meet Devlikar the next day. Nagpur native Devlikar works as a tour guide in Pune.
“Both men were promised to be paid 3 per cent of the total amount if they succeeded. They do not know each other and met for the first time outside the bank,” said Bhilare.
Upon inspection, bank officials found that that no such account, as mentioned in the forged document, exists at the bank. “It is likely that someone at the bank is also involved, as the transaction would not have been possible without help from inside,” he said.
The police is also trying to trace who created the document and sent it to Ranawat. “The arrested accused have given us a few names but we do not have any clear leads. We are also examining call data records of both their cell phones for clues,” Bhilare said. Ranawant and
Devlikar have been charged with cheating and forgery under the Indian Penal Code. While Ranawat is out on bail, Devlikar remains behind bars.
srinath.rao@expressindia.com
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