MEN BEHIND THE WHEELS

Year 2004. After a three year tenure in Kolkata I came back to Mumbai and was assigned a senior position in the most volatile and exceptionally large branch-Stock Exchange Branch. The Bank’s association with the Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd spans over a period of more than 8 decades with the clearing and settlement functions of the BSE Ltd. The operation in this branch is very specialized in nature and the branch maintains accounts of number of stock brokers. The branch was powered with more than 150 staff members and the day starts very early in the branch and closes very late. It is a matter of high relief if the day ends without any problem whether big or small. It was possible to surface fraud at any time due to the nature of the business transactions the branch was handling. The infamous Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh scams had really caused certain contusion to the branch earlier

When I reported to the branch, a couple of fraud cases were pending unresolved and the amount involved was few lacs. The account holders complained about the loss of money through fraudulent withdrawals and the option left to the bank was to reimburse the amount if found an element of fraud in the matter. The amount thus fraudulently withdrawn by unscrupulous persons even if at the cost of negligence of the account holders, has to be repaid by the bank. I decided to take up two such unsolved cases. In both the cases the complaints were pending and the parties were pressing the management for early settlement. One such complaint was from Mrs.Kukreja, a Senior Vice President of a multinational financial company from whose account few lacs were fraudulently withdrawn by unknown persons at different intervals. Her uncle was a major share broker of Bombay Stock Exchange. On a scrutiny of her account it was found that the amounts were withdrawn intermittently within a period of one year in multiples of thousands using cheque leaves from four different cheque books issued to the account holder. It was an error on the part of the bank to issue fresh cheque books without monitoring the status of the earlier cheque books issued. There were 10-12 such bearer cheques debited to the account and all the cheques were written by the same person as it appeared from the handwriting. The signatures of the recipients on the back of the cheques though were considerably varying but the style of the signatures remained more or less alike. Each time the amount withdrawn was between Rs 10000 to 20000.

After interrogating Mrs Kukreja at length, it was revealed that the leaves from the cheque books were stolen either from her car or from her office. She keeps the cheque books in her purse which travels along with her. Sometimes she forgets the purse in the car and the driver used to bring it to her. Her office peons and the driver were the prime suspects. The driver Mr Pande aged about 35 years had been with her for about 13 years and was above all suspicions. So I concentrated on few staff working in Mrs . Kukreja’s office. The writings on the cheques did not match with that of anyone’s writings in the office. The investigation into the other aspects like their style of living, acquisition of moveable properties or other investments etc did not fetch any result.

I advised Mrs. Kukreja to send Mr Pande to my office. Her outburst then followed. She told me that the driver cannot read or write English and how he can fill up the cheques in English and moreover he is like a member in their family. But I insisted and told her that the next option may be to file an FIR which would unnecessary bring inconvenience to all and finally she unwillingly agreed. Mr. Pande a humble looking person narrated to me everything about his family, his nature of work, and how much he takes care of his employer etc. I told him that one of the cashiers had noticed him encashing the cheque from Mrs Kukreja’s account. He broke into tears stating that there is no need for him to do things like that as his madam would generously part any amount for a matter of urgency if requested. He also told that he does not have any bank account. I allowed him to go. In the meantime I directed my staff officer Mr. Hari to follow him and report. Later Mr. Hari appraised me that Mr Pande went to a staff member working in a broker‘s firm and was talking for more than an hour and both were found disturbed. The staff member was later identified as one Mr Dubey working with the uncle (A share broker) of Mrs. Kukreja in the stock exchange building. Mr Dubey was also maintaining a savings account with the branch. Mr Dubey’s handwriting from his own cheques was compared with that of the defrauded instruments and proved to be identical. The recipients of the cash had put different illegible signatures all the time keeping the style and pattern same. The handwriting expert also confirmed that all the signatures put differently are by one and the same person.

Mr Pande accepted the guilt. He was stealing the cheque leaves and handing over to Mr Dubey who was filling it up and passing back for encashment. Mr pande collected the cash sharing a portion with Mr. Dubey. Mrs Kukreja and her uncle were called to the branch and the whole family appeared. At last while Mr Dubey was called we had kept Mr Pande separately. Mr Dubey refused his role, but when Mr. Pande appeared, the scene changed. Mr Dubey observed silence. The Kukreja family bounced upon the duo and we interfered. Both the culprits agreed to pay the amount. Mrs Kukreja got her money back. I told her to be careful with the bank instruments. Her negligence contributed the untoward incident. The happy Mrs. Kukreja then transferred a heavy amount to the branch for a long term deposit. She wrote a letter to the Chairman of the Bank which read...” I lost faith in your Bank one year back. I regained it now due to the timely and dedicated action of……..”

The second case was also similar in nature but the amount was fraudulently transferred twice from the account of a share broker to a local cooperative bank account belonging to a Christian religious zealot. The religious person told me that one innocent looking Tamil youth requested him to extend help by depositing cheques in his account and pay the money. He obliged the youth as the latter was not keeping any bank account. The youth entrusted two cheques worth few lacs stating that his master lend the amount towards purchasing an apartment in the outskirt and he got the cheques written favouring the Christian friend. After clearing the cheques the preacher withdrew the amount in full and entrusted the youth. A detailed probe cleared the gullible Christian missionary from any involvement. The stock broker approached me enquiring about the progress in the case. ‘Where is your driver?’ I enquired. The share broker told me that he is on leave and had gone to his native place in Tamil nadu. “Get him; he took the cheque leaf from your book and encashed.” For reasons known to him the broker withdrew the complaint next day.