Gang operating bogus cheque racket busted

Worli police on Tuesday busted a gang that forged cheques after taking photographs of the originals, and later enchased them. The police took seven people into custody and recovered 550 cheques, 19 cheque books, 10 debit cards, two printers and a scanner, among other materials, which were used to forge cheques. The gang comprised Kishor Kanojia, the mastermind, a courier boy and five others, said the police.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Pravin Padwal, deputy commissioner of police (Zone III), said, “The courier boy, Chandrakant Nangre, would take photos of the cheques meant for delivery and forward them to Kanojia. Asif Khan, another gang member, would then forge cheques using a software.” Several accounts were opened in different banks by the accused, where these bogus cheques were deposited. “The cheques were deposited in the name of Faizan Shaikh, Aakash Moolchand, Aakash Ratchandani and Kafi Shaikh, who would later withdraw the amount from ATMS. These four were paid 15% to 20% commission,” said an officer.

The police began their investigations after the first case was registered on September 23 at Worli police station.

Prima facie, investigation revealed that the gang had several cases registered against it for similar crimes at various city police stations. “We managed to secure CCTV footages of the ATMS from where the money was withdrawn and the phone numbers on which the messages were sent after the bogus cheques were deposited,” said an officer. The cops first arrested Moolchand, who led them to the other accused.