Mantralaya staff duped, conman held

The victims were all from the Irrigation department and believed in his glib talk, their faith in his abilities developed after noticing him hob-nob with ministers and senior officials in the corridors of Mantralaya.

According to the complaint lodged by a peon (name withheld) from the Irrigation department, he had approached a clerk from the Tribal section of the department, Sanjay Patil, to discuss about the advertisement in local newspapers. The government had invited applications for vacancies in some departments. When the peon mentioned that some of his relatives were seeking employment, Patil directed him to approach Mohne since the latter was `wellconnected’.

Patil informed that Mohne would charge Rs 35,000 for the job, of which Rs 15,000 should be paid advance in the first week. The complainant bargained with Mohne to reduce the initial payment to Rs 5,000 which was later paid to him through Patil.

Mohne was found missing from Mantralaya premise for a long time after the payment and the peon grew suspicious. When asked pointedly, Patil admitted to paying Rs one lakh to Mohne.

Further inquiries by the peon revealed that Mohne had taken money from several other employees all from the Irrigation Department, including one Gaikwad (Rs 75,000), Shaikh (Rs 30,000) and Suryavanshi (Rs 10,000).

On Monday, Mohne came to the complainant and demanded the remaining amount. While they were busy speaking about the payment of the balance, Patil slipped out to telephone the Cuffe Parade police and apprised them of the facts of the case. Immediately a police team arrived and arrested Mohne.

Mohne was govt employee when did patil met mohne when was thecomplaint lodged initials of gaikwad, suryawanshi and sheikh.