The Mumbai Crime Branch has apprehended a member of a gang involved in stealing cheques from drop boxes. This gang's modus operandi included pilfering cheques, erasing the original recipient's name, and depositing them into their own accounts. Police sources disclosed that the arrested individual has links to several cases in South Mumbai, and this gang has been carrying out cheque thefts since the previous year.
The incident was reported at Nagpada police station concerning the theft of a cheque from the drop box at the Axis Bank ATM center. A cheque worth Rs 2.50 lakh was cashed in another bank.
The investigation of this crime was undertaken by the Crime Branch Unit-3 team. Initially, the Unit-3 team commenced searching for the suspect by tracing bank details. However, due to an incorrect bank address, the accused remained elusive. Subsequently, when the police reviewed the CCTV footage installed at the ATM center, they observed two suspicious individuals removing drop boxes around 6 am.
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Utilizing information gleaned from the CCTV footage, the Crime Branch team identified the suspect's residence in the Fort area of South Mumbai. Under the direction of Deepak Surve, PI of Crime Branch Unit 3, a police team laid a trap at the location and successfully apprehended the suspect.
The arrested individual, identified as Srinivas Ramapal Kajaniya (50), resides in the Fort area of South Mumbai. During interrogation, it was revealed that Srinivas, along with an accomplice, would retrieve cheques from the drop box of a bank's ATM center, erase the original name using a specific chemical, substitute it with their own, deposit it into their bank account, and withdraw the funds.
Further investigations uncovered that Srinivas holds 17 accounts across different banks, utilizing false addresses for each account to evade detection. Srinivas is implicated in multiple cases in South Mumbai. The Crime Branch handed over his arrest to Nagpada Police, who subsequently detained him and froze all his bank accounts. Nagpada Police has confirmed that they are currently pursuing the apprehension of his accomplice.