Govt employee arrested for Rs1-crore graft in Mumbai

Mumbai: A central government employee from Mumbai and an entrepreneur couple based in Surat have been arrested by the NM Joshi Marg police for allegedly defrauding the Rail Tel Corporation of India Ltd, a central government undertaking, of Rs1.22 crore.

“We have arrested Umesh Tanawade, 26, assistant accountant in Rail Tel Corporation of India, Dhimant Vohra, 46 and his wife Shruti Vohra, 43, business partners of Orbit Net Com and Orbit Tele Tronics Pvt. Ltd, Surat for forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy,” said police inspector Sudhir Bekanalkar.

The corporation office, situated at Lower Parel, offer contracts for maintenance of optical fibers along railway tracks to various companies. Since 2006, Tanawade has been making vouchers and issued cheques payable to companies in contract. In April 2008, he made two cheques on a single bill of Vohra’s company.

Later, he contacted Shruti Vohra to inform her about the matter. Shruti, instead of returning the extra cheque, allegedly goaded him to keep making excess or double payment to their companies. In return, she promised to “reward Tanawade handsomely”.