Ahmedabad: Electrician held for forging signature of hotel director

AHMEDABAD: An electrician working at a budget hotel chain at its SG Road property was held on Friday by Vastrapur police for, forgery and theft after he tried to deposit a cheque of Rs 2.52 lakh using forged signatures of the hotel’s director in July.
The accused, identified as Akshesh Panchal, had allegedly stolen a cheque book from room of Ginger Hotel director Ekta Patel’s room in April and tried to withdraw money in July this year.Panchal was deployed by the hotel maintenance contractor as an electrician.
The complainant – Snehal Thakor, account manager at Ginger Hotel opposite Rajpath Club stated in his complaint filed on Thursday that the hotel had given maintenance contract to one OCS Group. The firm had deployed four men including Panchal at the hotel for maintenance work.
“On July 19, Patel got a call from her bank informing her that there the signature in a cheque issued by her did not match her official signature. Since Patel had not issued any cheque, she asked her accountant to enquire into the case,” said Vastrapur police official.
The complaint further stated that on April 19, Panchal had visited the hotel and switched off the main power switch without prior permission. And during that time Panchal allegedly stolen the chequebook from Patel’s cabin.
“In July, Panchal tried to withdraw Rs 2.52lakh for his personal use by forging Patel’s signature. But he was caught by the bank an employee as Panchal had misspelt a letter in the forged signature,” said a police official.
Vastrapur PSI JJ Rana said that the accused was held on Friday.