A major payroll fraud has been uncovered within the Mumbai Police, where salaries amounting to Rs 6.41 crore were allegedly disbursed to 10 “ghost” employees between 2019 and 2020, officials said.
The irregularity came to light during the transfer and review of payroll records, which revealed that 10 individuals, who were not part of the police force, had been repeatedly listed as employees in the North Regional Division. These fictitious personnel reportedly received monthly salaries in bank accounts opened in their names.
According to officials, the unauthorised transactions primarily took place during two periods — December 2019 to February 2020 and June to September 2020.
Investigations by the Samta Nagar police suggest that ministerial-level clerical staff fabricated attendance registers and other official documents to create fake identities and include outsiders on the department’s payroll.
The names of the alleged fictitious employees listed in the FIR include Ramdas Bhogle, Sudhakar Kadam, Sarju Yadav, Bhagwat Bhosale, Gunaji Khavkar, Mahadev Haldankar, Rajendra Sonar, Uttam Thorat, Suryakant Patil and Pandurang Kadam.
A case has been registered against five officials who were posted at the time of the alleged fraud. Those named in the FIR are former administrative officers Ramkishan Goswami, Nagesh Talvadekar and Vijaya Chavan, along with Head Clerk Ajay Rathod and Senior Clerk Amol Meshram.
The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including charges of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
The Mumbai Police have suspended Chavan and Meshram, alleging that they created fake Service IDs and Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (DCPS) IDs to facilitate the fraudulent salary payments. As part of their suspension conditions, both have been barred from taking up private employment or business, required to submit periodic declarations for subsistence allowance, and prohibited from leaving the Brihanmumbai jurisdiction without prior permission.
Authorities are now working to verify the identities of the 10 purported employees and determine who operated the bank accounts into which the salaries were credited. Further investigation is underway.
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