Mumbai News: GST Officer's Theft Complaint Unravels ₹39 Lakh Cash Mystery; CBI Probes Corruption Angle

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police have submitted a chargesheet in the case of a theft reported from the residence of Umesh Yogendra Narayan,32, a superintendent in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department. The alleged theft took place at his home in the Central Government Employees Society (CGS), Antop Hill, Mumbai.

A theft case filed by a GST superintendent has taken a dramatic turn after Mumbai Police recovered ₹39 lakh in unclaimed cash, triggering suspicions of corruption and prompting a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

According to the police, Narayan had filed a complaint on June 10, claiming that valuables worth ₹6.95 lakh were stolen, including his laptop and gold jewellery belonging to his wife. During the investigation, police arrested Deepak Dahiya Narayan's colleague and an executive assistant in the GST department and recovered ₹39 lakh in cash from his residence. 

This amount has since been deposited in the local magistrate court, but both the complainant (Narayan) and the accused (Dahiya) have denied ownership of the money. This denial has raised serious red flags. The Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) Anti-Corruption Branch has taken over relevant documents from the local police and initiated a separate inquiry. 

According to the police complaint, Narayan whose wife resides in Patna returned home from work on June 9 and discovered the door of his flat ajar. He reported that cash, his laptop, and his wife’s jewellery were missing. The police have registered a case under sections 305 (a) (theft in a dwelling house) and 331 (3) (house trespass) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act.

Investigations revealed that Narayan had been living alone in Mumbai for about 16 months, as his wife had left for Patna in early 2024. This raised doubts about the presence of her jewellery in the house, as claimed. Police also learned that Narayan had handed over an extra key to Deepak Dahiya.

On June 9, Dahiya had reportedly accompanied Narayan to work in his car. However, police suspect Dahiya returned later that day and committed the theft. Based on this suspicion, police searched Dahiya’s home and found ₹39 lakh hidden beneath his bed.

Dahiya has claimed that the money belonged to Narayan. Narayan, however, has categorically denied this. Dahiya was arrested on June 13 and later granted bail. He has since been suspended from his role in the GST department.

The police suspect that only ₹5 lakh of the seized cash actually belonged to Dahiya, and the remaining ₹34 lakh may belong to Narayan. 

Investigators now suspect that Narayan may have attempted to cover up unaccounted cash by filing a theft complaint. Since he could not explain the source of the funds, he allegedly reported the theft of his wife's jewellery instead, an official said.