A 38-year-old man after resigning from the operations of a Ducati showroom in India, was arrested for allegedly pocketing Rs 5.2 crore. The man kept Rs 5.2 crore from customers, who gave the money to purchase the motorcycles.
The fraud came to light when the customers who brought the Ducati bikes could not register their vehicles with the RTO. The man arrested identified as Rakesh from Kukatpally at Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh was arrested after CN Mahesh, the general manager of the Ducati store filed a complaint.
The fraudster Rakesh siphoned a total of Rs 5.2 crore by selling around 21 bikes between July 2019 and September this year. He worked in the company for five years, and resigned on 20th October. During an audit after the fraud, the company found that the sale of nine Ducati Panigale, three Multistrada, four Diavel, two Monster, a DesertX, a Scrambler and a Streetfighter V4 were sold but were not shown in the records. The price range of the bikes started at Rs 10 lakh and went up to Rs 40 lakh.
Rakesh had collected Rs 5.2 crore from these 21 buyers and deposited the money in multiple bank accounts including one registered in the name of ‘Office Facility Suppliers.’
According to the police complaint, Rakesh collected the money from the buyers, deposited a part of it in the company’s account while diverted the rest of it. “Though the complainant has named only Rakesh, the company should have followed certain procedures for receiving bikes and sales, and there should be a trail of delivery notes, invoice details sent to the RTO, and audits. The complaint was filed only after customers started visiting the company to complain that they were not able to register their motorbikes. We suspect the involvement of insiders. We’re verifying the authenticity of the invoices,”
We are not sure how the fraud went on for such a long time and so many customers were defrauded by Rakesh.
Suspect arrested
Post complaint, the police have arrested the suspect. However, the police are also looking at another angle. The cops are investigating if the insiders were involved in the scam as well. The company followed a certain protocol of sale as inventory of the bikes received, sales and delivery notes along with the invoice details, which should have been sent to the RTO. An internal inquiry is being done to verify the invoices but Mukesh, the general manager, who filed the complaint did not comment on the investigation at the moment.
