Rs 6.4-crore salary, 10 ghost employees | Mumbai Police's payroll 'scam'

A major payroll fraud has been uncovered in the Mumbai Police, with investigators finding that salaries worth Rs 6.41 crore were paid to 10 fictitious employees between 2019 and 2020. The irregularity surfaced during the migration of payroll records, when officials discovered that 10 individuals, who were not part of the police force, had repeatedly been shown as employees of the North Regional Division and received monthly salaries in bank accounts opened in their names.

Ghost employees created

Officials said the unauthorised salary payments were made mainly during two phases — from December 2019 to February 2020 and again between June and September 2020. According to the Samta Nagar Police, ministerial staff allegedly manipulated attendance registers and other official documents to create "ghost" employees and place outsiders on the department's payroll. The names 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.

Five officials booked

A criminal case has been registered against five officials who were posted in the department when the alleged fraud took place. Those named in the FIR are former administrative officers Ramkishan Goswami, Nagesh Talvadekar and Vijaya Chavan, Head Clerk Ajay Rathod, and Senior Clerk Amol Meshram. They have been booked under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) relating to cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.

Two officials suspended

The Mumbai Police have suspended Vijaya Chavan and Amol Meshram, alleging that they created fake Service IDs and Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (DCPS) IDs to facilitate salary payments to the 10 fictitious employees. As part of the suspension conditions, both have been barred from engaging in private employment or business. They have also been directed to file periodic declarations for receiving subsistence allowance and cannot leave the Brihanmumbai jurisdiction without prior permission.

Probe underway

Investigators are now trying to establish the identities of the 10 purported employees and identify those who operated the bank accounts into which the salaries were transferred. Police said further investigation into the alleged payroll scam is continuing.