A former accountant of a film production company was booked on Wednesday for allegedly embezzling Rs 56 lakh meant to pay GST for the CEO, leading to his tax dues rising to Rs 65.82 lakh, police said.
According to Khar police, the booked suspect, identified as Bhagwan Kaskar, was working as an accountant with Excel Entertainment Pvt Ltd, where the complainant, Vishal Ramchandani, is the CEO since 2008. As per the FIR, one of the directors of the company, which is situated in Khar, is a Bollywood actor and film producer.
From 2017, Kaskar started filing GST for Ramchandani, who used to send the amount to the former’s bank account through NEFT transaction. Kaskar left the firm in 2021. The incident came to light in 2024 when another CEO of the firm found delay in GST filing of Ramchandani and informed him. Ramchandani clarified that he was paying GST through Kaskar and had transferred money through NEFT.
When Ramchandani asked Kaskar, his answers were vague. The CEO then asked his chartered account Pradeep Mishra to get details of his GST transactions. It was found that Kaskar had paid only 9.75 lakh GST out of Rs 56 lakh that was paid by Ramchandani between 2019 and 2024.
The complainant then called Kaskar and was confronted by another CEO of the company. Kaskar then confessed that he had paid part of the GST and used the rest of the money for his personal use. The total pending GST with late charges was Rs. 65.82 lakh, said police.
However, Kaskar agreed to return the money but the complainant approached the police when he did not pay him. A case of cheating was registered after a detailed investigation, said an officer of Khar police station.
Source from: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/former-accountant-film-firm-booked-embezzling-ceo-gst-fund-10439071/
