Fugitive fraudster gets '(Face)booked' by police after posting picture

After smartly evading the police for nearly three years it was the stupid mistake of posting on Facebook that landed this fraudster behind bars On Thursday the Powai police arrested Vijay Gounder 39 for embezzling Rs 29 crore from the company he formerly worked atIt was one of the directors of the company who noticed Gounders posts about his travels abroad and new job in Dubai following which a look out notice was issued to nab himGounder had been wanted by the Powai police since 2016 when his former employer Integrity Logistic Solutions India Private Limited lodged an FIR against him He had allegedly siphoned off nearly R3 crore from the company His anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Sessions Court as well as the Bombay High Court in April 2017 Gounder had even moved the Supreme Court for relief but before the court could hear the matter his lawyers withdrew their plea Since then he had been on the runGounders posts about his new job in Dubai didnt go unnoticed by his previous employersThe big clueAfter he went underground in 2017 the police visited his home in Pune several times but were unable to find him Gounder maintained a low profile online as well Until recently that is Interestingly a lot of activity was seen on his Facebook page on January 1 2019 when he uploaded several pictures from his travels abroad and his new job as managing director at Ncube Cargo Shipping LLC UAE and Ncube Logistic Solution India Pvt Ltd He had even posted photographs at various foreign locations including Bankgok Thailand where he had participated in a conferenceGounder suddenly became active on Facebook this year posting several new pictures at his new jobOne of the directors of the defrauded company noticed Gounders posts and armed with these clues the complainant approached the police Once we were sure that the accused was not in India and his Facebook updates showed his activity in different foreign countries we wrote to senior police officials requesting them to issue a look out notice said Dinesh Tiwari the complainants lawyer Tiwari added The accuseds anticipatory bail was consistently rejected and yet he continued to travel to different countries with impunityOn Jan 1 Gounder left posted this picture of him at a conference in Bangkok PicsVijay Gounders FacebookCopspeakGounder was produced in court yesterday and remanded to police custody for seven days Anil V Pophale senior police inspector at Powai police station said The accused was arrested thanks to the look out notice Our team had been to his Pune address four to five times but he was never foundGounder apprehended at the immigration counter at the Pune airport on the basis of the look out notice Immigration then alerted the Powai police and the accused was handed over to Mumbai PoliceAPI Mahesh Gurav the investigating officer said We had issued a look out notice on February 7 and he was apprehended on February 14 when he landed at Pune international airport from Dubai We have just got his remand and are yet to question him to find out if more people are involved in the caseThe caseThe multicrore forgery and criminal breach of trust case was registered on the basis of a complaint by Ravi Kumar Sharma an assistant accounts manager who was assigned the duty of auditing the accounts of Integrity Logistic Solutions which does custom clearance and freight forwardingAccording to the FIR the company opened a branch in Pune in 2013 at Gounders behest and appointed him as the branch manager He was given blank cheques to facilitate payment for shipping or other services that the clients required In 2014 the company decided to use a new accounting software but following an audit they realised that Gounder had embezzled huge amounts of money by submitting forged vouchers and challansThe company directors learned that he would withdraw large sums from ATMs at casinos in Goa pointing to a gambling habit He had also siphoned off money to his wifes account and 12 others In 2016 when they confronted him he abruptly quit the company One of the directors said The funds used by the accused were reserve capital for paying taxes We have been duped to the tune of Rs 29 crore which he still owes to the companyCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates