Office boy who siphoned off 74 lakh from CM Relief Fund, denied bail

MUMBAI: A 28-year-old man, who worked at a hospital, was denied bail for allegedly siphoning off Rs 74,75,000 from the CM Relief Fund to the hospital with the help of other accomplices. Holiday court judge AT Wankede rejected the second bail plea filed by Sandesh Mogavera, a Thane resident, who worked at Sharada hospital and allegedly prepared 64 bogus documents of patients to get money transferred to the hospital. Mogavera filed the bail plea claiming that he was falsely implicated and was only an office boy whose work was to transfer files from one counter to another. He also said, in his plea, that the charge sheet was filed and his custody was no longer required.

Special Public Prosecutor Iqbal Solkar, appearing for the Marine Drive police, who had registered the offence, opposed the bail plea and told the court that the man had collected documents of persons and prepared false documents to get benefit from the CM Relief Fund. He too, Solkar informed the court, took undue benefit of the relief fund by showing himself as a cancer patient and got 4.5 lakhs from the relief fund. Further, he argued that investigation was still in progress and may get hampered if he tried tampering witnesses.

While rejecting the bail plea, judge Wankhede observed that the offence was registered by the police on a report lodged by the Assistant Director, CM Relief Fund, Mantralya and that the report has specific allegations of Mogavera preparing 64 bogus proposals of patients. The order also noted that witnesses have said that he had obtained their documents telling them that they would get relief from the government meant for the economically weaker sections. Observing that it is a serious offence of cheating the government, the court said that he is not entitled for bail considering the nature of the offence and that the investigation is still in progress. - Bhavna Uchil