Rs 6.41-Crore Payroll Fraud Rocks Mumbai Police: Probe Finds 10 ‘Ghost Employees’ Drew Salaries for Two Years
A major financial fraud has surfaced within the Mumbai Police after investigators uncovered an alleged payroll scam in which salaries worth ₹6.41 crore were paid to 10 fictitious employees between 2019 and 2020. The irregularity reportedly came to light during the migration and verification of employee records under a new digital payroll system, exposing what officials describe as one of the most serious internal financial lapses in recent years.
According to the preliminary investigation, the alleged fraud was carried out by creating fake Service IDs and inserting non-existent personnel into the police payroll database. These fabricated identities were treated as legitimate employees, allowing monthly salaries to be credited to bank accounts over an extended period. Since the names existed only in official records, the payments continued without immediate detection, highlighting significant weaknesses in payroll verification and internal oversight.
The discrepancies reportedly emerged during a comprehensive review of employee data undertaken as part of an administrative modernization exercise. Officials noticed inconsistencies between service records, payroll entries and actual personnel posted within various police units. A deeper audit revealed that several salary accounts belonged to individuals who had never served in the Mumbai Police, prompting an internal investigation into how the fake identities had remained active for years.
The Mumbai Police has already initiated disciplinary action. Reports indicate that two employees have been suspended, while criminal proceedings have been launched against multiple individuals suspected of facilitating or benefiting from the fraudulent transactions. Investigators are examining whether the scheme involved a wider network of insiders responsible for creating forged records, approving payroll entries and routing salary payments.
Financial investigators are also tracing the bank accounts that received the salary payments to determine the ultimate beneficiaries. Authorities are scrutinizing digital logs, approval chains, personnel files and banking records to establish who created the fake service profiles, who authorized them and whether additional fictitious employees may still exist in historical records.
The case has raised broader concerns about governance and financial controls within government departments. Experts note that payroll fraud involving “ghost employees” is typically enabled by weak verification systems, inadequate reconciliation between human resources and finance databases, and insufficient periodic audits. The discovery has renewed calls for biometric verification, automated cross-checking of employee records and stronger internal audit mechanisms across public institutions.
The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities are expected to determine the full extent of the alleged fraud, identify all individuals involved and assess whether the financial loss can be recovered. Additional disciplinary and criminal action may follow as investigators continue examining payroll records and administrative approvals from the relevant period.
