Mumbai, March 13: The Mumbai police recently booked four people for siphoning off Rs 69 lakh from the state's tourism department. The incident came to light after the Directorate of Tourism, Maharashtra registered a case against four people for forging cheques and illegally withdrawing the money. The accused allegedly withdrew money from the bank accounts of the state tourism department.

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, the accused forged chequebooks, made fake stamps and used fake signatures to withdraw money via 15 bank transactions. An official from Marine Drive police said that a case has been registered by Vitthal Sude, chief accounts officer, who is working with the Directorate of Tourism, Maharashtra. Mumbai Fraud News: Borivali Couple Duped of Rs 70.5 Lakh by Fake Forex Traders.

An officer said that the tourism department received alerts regarding unauthorised withdrawals from their current account at the Bank of Maharashtra, Mantralaya Branch. Notably, transactions revealed that a total of Rs 22.79 lakh was transferred to Akash Dey, Rs 22.73 lakh to Tapan Mandal, Rs 13.91 lakh to Lakshmi Pal and Rs 9.24 lakh to Ananda Mandal.

As per the complaint, the transactions took place through 15 bank accounts between February 13 and 16. A total of Rs 69 lakh was siphoned off from Maharashtra's tourism department's bank accounts. Police officials said that the money was transferred to various bank accounts and later it was withdrawn. Police also said that the accused created counterfeit cheques which had the same cheque numbers that were available with the Tourism department. Loan Fraud in Mumbai: Borivali Businesswoman Duped of Rs 28 Lakh by Loan Frauds on Promise of Providing Rs 4 Crore Loan for Business.

The accused also created fake stamps and forged duplicate signatures to get the fake cheques passed. A case has been registered against the four people in whose bank accounts the money was deposited. The police are also investigating to see if there was any involvement of any internal person from the bank or the tourism department.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 13, 2024 05:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).