Automobile showroom owner in Ahmedabad accuses accountant of embezzling Rs 50 lakh in a year

Ahmedabad: An automobile showroom owner from Naroda on Tuesday filed a complaint of cheating with the detection of crime branch (DCB) police against an accountant for allegedly misappropriating over Rs 50 lakh from the firm. The embezzlement is alleged to have occurred between June 2022 and June 2023.The complainant, Jitendra Shah, 56, stated that he runs Krishna Wheels, a Royal Enfield showroom located at Aditya Opulence near the Nana Chiloda crossroads.
According to the complaint, Chetan Pandya was employed as an accountant and back-office executive from April 2022 at a monthly salary of Rs 18,000. He was responsible for handling customer payments, depositing daily collections in bank accounts, paying municipal taxes, and processing online tax payments for vehicle registration.During an internal audit for the financial year 2022-23 conducted in July-Aug 2024, discrepancies surfaced. Shah alleged that payments collected from customers for vehicle purchases and municipal taxes were neither deposited in the showroom's bank accounts nor paid to the authorities.The complaint stated that Pandya collected Rs 26.5 lakh from 631 customers for municipal tax but failed to deposit the amount with the municipal corporation. Additionally, Rs 23.4 lakh received from 20 customers for vehicle purchases was allegedly not credited to the office account. An amount of Rs 15,600 withdrawn for the regional transport office tax payments was also unaccounted for. The total alleged misappropriation stands at Rs 50 lakh.When confronted, Pandya initially gave evasive replies but later issued a cheque for Rs 50 lakh dated Dec 30, 2024, to cover the money he had taken. However, the cheque was returned on Jan 7, 2025, due to insufficient funds.Shah subsequently filed a cheque dishonour complaint before a metropolitan magistrate's court. As no repayment was made, he approached the Sarkhej police, which have registered an offence against Pandya.