More than three to four years after evading the police dragnet, a 45-year-old fraudster finally landed into the custody of the central crime unit attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police for his involvement in duping banks and customers with fake cheques and forged signatures. The first information report (FIR) dating back to 2019 stated that a Mira Road resident lost Rs 11.92 lakh after the amount was fraudulently withdrawn from his savings account in a reputed private sector scheduled banking institution having its branch in Sheetal Nagar.
Forged cheques went undetected by bank
Shockingly, three counterfeit cheques were allegedly used to carry out the transactions, which went undetected while being cleared by concerned bank officials. The fraudulent transfers were conducted in the year 2019 on the virtue of three cheques amounting Rs 3.95 lakh, Rs 3.98 lakh and Rs 3.99 lakh. The account holder who was in Dubai when the fraudulent transactions were carried out had claimed that the amount had been siphoned off from his account through fake cheques and forged signatures as he was still in possession of the cheque-leaves bearing the same serial numbers.
Based on the complaint registered by the bank manager, an offence under the relevant sections of the IPC for cheating and forgery was registered at the Mira Road police station against unidentified fraudsters on 11, March, 2020. Investigations pointed towards the involvement of a notorious fraudster identified as-Sushil Ambika Prasad Dubey- a resident of Kharigaon area in Bhayandar (east).
Accused remained elusive
Despite repeated attempts by the police, Dubey managed to remain elusive as he continued changing his locations. As a part of their drive to apprehend absconding criminals involved in economic offences, the crime detection unit led by PSI Hitendra Vichare started reinvestigating the case. Based on inputs provided by informers and electronic surveillance, PSI Hitendra Vichare and his team laid a trap and apprehended Dubey from the Kanakia Road area in Mira Road on Sunday.
However, it is still not clear as to how the serial number of the cheques and account balance was disclosed and most importantly how the fraudsters managed to pull it off by forging the signature of the authorized signatory. Investigations revealed his involvement in nine similar offences committed by him in Mira Road, Nallasopara, Valiv, Arnala, Khar, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Nagpur.
Dubey who had been committing the crimes since 2004 was earlier arrested by the police but he failed to mend ways and continued indulging in frauds, said the police who are conducting further investigations to ascertain if he was assisted by his accomplices.
