Mumbai: Man, parents booked for duping bank of Rs 15 crore

MUMBAI: Three of a family have been booked for ‘cheating’ a private bank of nearly Rs 15 crore by submitting ‘bogus’ documents to get bills discounted. The accused—Bhadresh Mehta, his wife Hina and son Parth—are still to be arrested.

A source from the economic offences wing said that a senior official of a private bank lodged the complaint at BKC police station. The Mehtas managed Bhadresh Trading Corporation Ltd. “They approached the bank with bills of Rs 14.9 crore to be discounted. The accused claimed they had bought cotton from four firms and needed to discount bills for payment. They submitted sale and purchase bills, invoice, lorry receipts used to transport the consignment. The bank released the money in August 2015. However, after several months they did not get the payment from the accused,” said an officer.

The bank, in its independent probe, found that no cotton companies whose bills had been produced as proof of purchase, existed. “Earlier, the accused had been getting bills discounted at the bank and were a reliable customer for the bank. Based on earlier transactions, their bills were discounted, but they failed to pay up, leading to an FIR being filed against them,” said the officer.