Isha Infratech

Reliance Group companies

Sea Wind building

Cuffe Parade

RTGS

The Sea Wind building at Cuffe Parade, where the Ambanis live

Mukesh Shah, who was director of Isha Buildtech and, transferred money to firms for repairs, although no work was done.A former director of two, Mukesh Shah, has been arrested for allegedly duping the group of Rs 16.9 crore, pretending to use the money for repairs ofat, owned by the Ambani family, which were never done.Ghatkopar resident Shah suddenly stopped coming in to work from September 2018. Cops said his family filed a missing persons’ report in October 2018. According to the police, Shah was an employee of Reliance Group since 1988. From 1998 to September 2018, Shah, 56, was the director of Isha Buildtech, a Reliance Group company and from 2012, he was a director of Isha Infratech and was an authorised signatory onforms. The two companies were responsible for the maintenance and repairs of Sea Wind.There were a total of four employees who were authorised signatory on the RTGS forms. For money transfers in Isha Infratech, it was mandatory to get two signatures out of the four authorised signatories. According to the police, as Shah was a trusted employee of the companies, hence he had most of the rights, including maintenance of accounts, processing bills for building materials and disbursements of the cheques and RTGS.In June 2018, Shah suddenly resigned from the directorship and stopped coming to office from September. In his place, a new director was appointed, who started checking the books of accounts from 2017-18 and 2018-19. It then came to the fore that Shah had allegedly not made any entries in the books even though several financial transactions had taken place. Transactions of Rs 9.22 crore from Isha Infratech and Rs 7.68 from the account of Isha Buildtech were allegedly transferred to several companies for repair and maintenance work of Sea Wind building. However, there was no actual work at the building, neither were there any work orders of the work nor was any contract signed, the police said.It was found that Shah forged vouchers and forged the signature of the assistant in charge’s name on it. The complainant in the case, who is the current director in the company, then approached the Cuffe Parade police. An FIR was lodged for cheating and forgery.“According to the information provided by the company director, we got hold of the accused when he came to the Reliance office. He has confessed to the crime and revealed that since September he had not gone home. His family had also lodged a missing person’s complaint with Ghatkopar police on October 22, 2018,” said a police officer, adding that he was living in Mira Road.“We are now checking where did he invest the money and which companies the money has gone to,” he added.A spokesperson of RIL did not respond to Mirror’s text messages, calls and emails.