Memories of an ordinary bureaucrat :: 38 :: Bombay (Part V) - A fraud and a new service

http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Fraud in Akola

An extraordinary thing that I remember during my tenure in Bombay was a savings bank fraud that occurred, of all the places, at Akola. The initial reports that came in through the regional director Nagpur were that the fraud was hovering at around a couple of lakhs. In 1985 even a couple of lakhs was a big amount especially when it was defrauded. It was more so when one considered that the man who committed the fraud was a mere postal clerk. He wouldn’t have been able to earn a couple of lakhs in his entire career.

However, the amount defrauded did not stop at a couple of lakhs. It went on rising with every report that was submitted to me on the basis of my own instructions. When it hit Rs. 22 lakh I thought the time had come to get a move on and proceed to Akola. I told the PMG and he too said that it was time for me to pay a visit.

Curiously, as it happened the defrauded amount totaled Rs. 22 lakh and it had not increased since I left Bombay. The modus operandii was simple. The man deposited fresh deposits in the accounts of his children which he had opened depriving the depositor of his moneys. Being a small town it faced a lot of commotion and all postal employees were suspect in their eyes.

When I landed up the place was crawling with inspectors and investigators. Independent investigators arrived at the same figure – an amount that was too big to be defrauded by one man in a post office. The local press sought interviews many of whom wondered as to why there was no system of auditing. One had to repeatedly hammer it down it was an auditor who became the thief.

With the report filed with the Police I did not find any reason to remain at Akola. I commandeered a jeep and came away to Nagpur to catch the evening flight for Bombay. The fraud, instead becoming rich rotted in prison for a few years.

EMS Speedpost

Just before the EMS speed post system was to be introduced in Bombay in 1986 the PMG, CP Thomas, left on an Universal Postal Union assignment in Africa. Although I was always available in the office I was never associated in the meetings that were being held on regular basis in the chamber of the PMG. I was told that Ahmedabad PMG would come and hold double charge in the short-term vacancy.

Ultimately nobody was appointed in Thomas’s place and I was asked to look after the charge. Naturally, the responsibility to successfully introduce the new premium service of the Department at Bombay, the commercial capital of the country, also devolved on me. The only problem was I was totally blank about the new system as no papers on the subject were ever sent to me.

I read up all the material that had come and allotted work to those who I knew could deliver. They kept training the operatives and testing them till they had acquired the required expertise. Three days before the due date for launch of the service they came to me to tell me everything was fine. I would have none of it, I wanted them to have a dry run to check whether the timings provided for the runs between various points was adequate. The dry run did indicate the need for some reorientation of the running time of the vehicle.

I made an officer to travel in the vehicle on the day the system was introduced. He travelled in the vehicle through every point the vehicle touched and up to the airport mail office where everything that was collected was handed over for dispatch. He came back and reported everything worked like clockwork and they hit the airport to deliver the outgoing items on time.

While my goodwill earned at Nagpur carried the day as the officers who were specially deputed for the purpose were largely from there the senior officer who had come from the Directorate to supervise in the absence of the PMG, initially not very friendly, glowed with happiness, though did not have much to do.

*image from internet