A scam of very high magnitude has come to light at Mori Road Post Office as millions of deposits of the depositors are blocked in it. The intensity of this scam is increasing day by day as seven thousand letters have been sent to 3800 account holders. An official of the post office took money from the investors in the name of the deposit but cheated customers by misusing the money without investing it in the post.
In this case, a complaint has been registered at Mahim Police station against Ramesh Bhat, his wife Yogita Bhat and daughter Bhoomika Bhat.
The family has been absconding ever since the complaint was registered.
The accused took money from the account holders by telling that the money was invested in the post. But in reality, this money has not come into use. In this case, we have registered a FIR against all three, and till now 40 people have given their complaint,” Milind Idekar, Senior Police Inspector, Mahim Police Station.
Ramesh Bhat worked as a post office agent and has been attached to the Mori Road Post Office branch of Mahim for many years. His daughter also used to do post work as hundreds of people had spent the past few years believing the agent and functioning as he advised. All the investors were cheated eventually and they realised they were duped.
Asha Mandalik (53) a private tutor, is now in a critical condition as she had given INR 26 lakh to Ramesh Bhat. Nobody knows where the money went.
In 2011, she deposited INR 6 lakh through Bhat and added that sum into an FD. That FD was to mature in 2017. In the meanwhile, the private tutor invested into many schemes through the same man. She received the interest on the amount invested from time to time but when the interest stopped, and on being questioned, Bhat started avoiding her.
When Mandalik got suspicious, she inquired at the post office and was shocked to find out that a sum on just INR 3,000 was deposited in her name. She immediately filed a complaint against the man.
In this case, the number of deceived depositors have been found. Mahim's Sachin Vaidya is also among those who have been cheated and their deposits worth INR 30 lakh have been lost.
Earlier, my parents had invested money in the post though Ramesh Bhat. Since 1998, we have been investing money with him. We were reinvesting the sum that had matured back into the post. If we ever went to the post in the meanwhile, the post office staff would send us back. So we never found out about the truth until the end,” Sachin Vaidya.
When Mumbai Live contacted Mori Road Post Office Assistant Post Master General, he said that an inquiry was going on.
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