A payroll fraud inside the Mumbai Police saw around ₹6.41 crore paid out to 10 “ghost” employees who existed only on paper, an audit has revealed, with the case now handed to the Mumbai Crime Branch.
The scam surfaced during a routine migration of payroll records from the old Sevaarth salary portal to the state’s new Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS). An internal audit by the Mumbai Police’s North Regional Division found that the 10 beneficiaries drew regular salaries and arrears despite never existing as real personnel. The FIR traces the fraud to 2019-20.
According to the FIR, ministerial-level staff allegedly manipulated attendance records, forged official documents, and created fake Service IDs and Defined Contribution Pension Scheme (DCPS) accounts to slot the ghost employees into the payroll system. As per reports, salaries were “allegedly disbursed to 10 ‘ghost’ employees over two years.”
The force has begun acting on the individuals named. Office Superintendent Vijaya Ashok Chavan and Senior Clerk Amol Meshram were reportedly suspended, barred from leaving Brihanmumbai limits without permission, and directed to report regularly while drawing subsistence allowance.
Investigators now suspect the rot may run deeper. Officials believe the manipulation may predate the Sevaarth system, and a wider payroll audit has been opened to check for similar irregularities in earlier years. A forensic financial audit is tracing the bank accounts that received the fraudulent payments to identify who ultimately controlled the siphoned funds.
