The police have seized a laptop and mobile phones from the accuse. (Representational)
Four persons were arrested last week for trying to siphon money from the bank account of an 81-year-old Juhu-based proprietor, who recently succumbed to Covid-19, the police said.
The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested Shafiq Shaikh, Arshad Sayyed, Pritesh Mandliya and Swapnil Ogalekar — residents of Mira Road — on Saturday.
The police said that following a tip-off that four persons were trying to transfer money from the proprietor’s account, Crime Branch officers laid a trap and caught them red-handed at a chawl in Mira Road.
“Shaikh spoke to Mandliya after the proprietor’s demise on June 20… they came up with a plan to steal money from his bank account,” said an officer.
“Shaikh was certain that his employer had crores of rupees in his account… he stole the Aadhar card and bank account documents belonging to the deceased from his office,” the officer added.
Mandliya roped in Sayyed, who had earlier worked in a bank, and Ogalekar, who is an expert in forging documents, said police. After Ogalekar forged the Aadhar card, the four contacted the deceased’s mobile service provider, got his SIM card disconnected and purchased a new one, the police added.
“The manager of the proprietor, meanwhile, noticed that the documents had gone missing. He informed the Mumbai Crime Unit, which started monitoring his bank account,” said the officer.
“The four tried transferring the amount with the help of applications like G-pay and Phone pay but couldn’t… they then opened a new bank account but when they were about to transfer the amount, they were caught by the police,” the officer added.
The police have seized a laptop and mobile phones from the accused. Booked on charges of conspiracy, heating and forgery, the accused were produced in court on Sunday and remanded in police custody.