04 June,2026 08:02 AM IST | Mumbai | Aishwarya Iyer
The alleged irregularities surfaced in August 2024 during a bank audit. Representation pic/istock
A routine bank audit has exposed an alleged corporate fraud of over Rs 80 lakh, leading Shivaji Nagar police to book a company director and a production supervisor for cheating, criminal breach of trust and common intention.
According to police, the FIR was registered on Tuesday based on a complaint by Lakshminarayan Srinivasan, 65, director of an Ambernath MIDC-based company that manufactures industrial water-filtration equipment.
As per the complaint, the company was established in 2016 by Srinivasan, Naresh Mahajan, 55, and two partners based in Canada. While Srinivasan handled business development, Mahajan was responsible for operations, procurement, labour management, bill approvals and financial affairs.
The alleged irregularities surfaced in August 2024 during a bank audit. The company had mortgaged its factory and availed a loan from the bank. During scrutiny of records, auditors allegedly found that several company orders were being executed by another firm linked to Mahajan's family instead of the company itself, resulting in financial losses.
Following the audit observations, the directors conducted an internal review of records and transactions, which continued over several months and led to the discovery of additional irregularities.
One such case involved an order for 2000 cartridge filters received in 2022. Since the company did not manufacture the product, it planned to source it from an external supplier.
According to the complaint, Mahajan allegedly routed the order to a family-owned company without board approval. While the market cost of the material was around Rs 9.78 lakh, the company allegedly purchased it for Rs 21.27 lakh, resulting in a loss of Rs 11.47 lakh.
Police said a similar transaction took place in December 2024 when an order from a Dubai-based company for cartridge filters was allegedly routed through the same family-linked firm, causing a loss of Rs 36 lakh.
Police are also investigating the role of production supervisor Munna Yadav, 32, who was drawing a monthly salary of around Rs 56,000.
According to investigators, Yadav simultaneously operated a separate firm and submitted labour-related bills to the company as an external contractor. Between September 2021 and October 2025, his firm allegedly submitted 21 labour bills worth Rs 21 lakh.
Of these, bills amounting to Rs 18.8 lakh were allegedly approved by Mahajan and paid by the company. The complainant has alleged that the work mentioned in the invoices was carried out by the company's existing workforce, making the bills fraudulent.
According to the complaint, losses of Rs 61.29 lakh were caused through diverted orders and inflated purchases, while another Rs 18.8 lakh was allegedly siphoned off through bogus labour bills, taking the total loss to more than Rs 80 lakh.
Based on the complaint, Shivaji Nagar police have registered a case against Mahajan and Yadav. Senior PI Ramesh Patil confirmed that an investigation is underway. No arrests have been made so far.
