Police have booked two persons for allegedly cheating Mumbai 'dabbawalas' to the tune of lakhs of rupees.
According to Shivaji Park Police in Central Mumbai, one Subodh Sangle was appointed by Mumbai Dabbewala Association to operate their website since last few years.
During the period Sangle took help of two persons identified as Mayur Kanti and Rishabh Kanti to handle the day-to-day operations of the website, an official said.
As 'dabbawalas' are famous for their management skills and punctuality, many institutes, companies and organisations used to approach them for branding, promotions and events, the official said.These branding, promotional events were handled by Sangle and his team and for that they were using all the data- base of dabbawalas through their website and office, he added. Meanwhile, Sangle and Mayur Kanti opened new company with name of 'India Coin', said the official.They projected as if the company belongs to Mumbai Dabbewala Association, he said.
"The fees, remuneration and even bills which they used to receive from the various institutes, companies and clients due to promotion and branding was diverted into the account of India Coin," Subhash Talekar, spokesperson of Mumbai Dabbewala Association said."They have cheated us to the tune of around `1 crore and this misappropriation was going on since last few years," Talekar said. According to police, as of now they have been able to trace the source of amount of around `45 lakh.
"Our investigation is going on, as of now we have registered an offence under section 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) of IPC and under the Information Technology Act," a police official who is investigating the case said.