Former Officer Arrested in Kanjurmarg East Over Rs 6.4 Cr Mumbai Police Salary Scam

Unit 12 of the Mumbai Crime Branch arrested Ramkishan Ganesh Goswami, a 61-year-old former administrative officer, from his residence in Kanjurmarg East in connection with an alleged Rs 6.41 crore police salary scam. Goswami served as an Administrative Officer and Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) at the Northern Regional Division office during the period when the fraud took place.

The crime branch probing the case revealed that nearly Rs 6.5 crore was allegedly disbursed as official salaries to 10 ghost employees within the city police force. The payroll fraud came to light during an administrative migration of employee records from the department's old Sevarth salary portal to a new software system.

Following internal inquiries, authorities discovered that 10 non-police personnel had been repeatedly listed as active employees in official records. Monthly salary payments were routinely credited into the bank accounts of these fictitious individuals.

The 10 ghost employees named in the First Information Report (FIR) include Ramdas Bhogle, Sudhakar Kadam, Sarju Yadav, Bhagwat Bhosale, Gunaji Khavkar, Mahadev Haldankar, Rajendra Sonar, Uttam Thorat, Suryakant Patil, and Pandurang Kadam.

In addition to Goswami, investigators have identified five other department employees involved in the fraud who have been shown as absconding accused in the case. The absconding suspects include administrative officer Nagesh Talwadekar, senior clerk Amol Mesharam, and clerks Vijay Chavan and Ajay Rathod.

Goswami was taken into custody after investigators located him at his home in Kanjurmarg East as part of the ongoing probe.