Mumbai: Naveen Luthra, the husband of Bollywood actress Poonam Dasgupta and Managing Director of Mulshi Spings Natural Spring Water – a gourmet natural spring water, has filed a case of data theft and cheating against two former employees Santosh Kale and Mushtaq Rauf. The FIR was registered with the Malwani Police Station in suburban Mumbai.
According to media reports, Kale, who handled logistics for the company, resigned last week on flimsy grounds. Despite his non-seniority but by virtue of his job profile, Kale had access to all vital information of the past and existing clients of the company. The accused, Kale, had uploaded a business application on his official Android phone, provided by the company, whereby all business-related data was immediately forwarded to an e-mail address. The e-mail belonged to Mushtaq Rauf, an ex-employee of the company. Rauf had left Mulshi on December 31, 2014 to join a competitor. From this continuous feed of information received from Kale, Rauf tapped potential hotels and restaurants across the country, causing huge losses to Mulshi Natural Spring Water.
Naveen Luthra stated, “Kale abruptly left which was surprising. He did not return the mobile phone or the SIM card despite reminders stating that he couldn’t return it because he had attend to his ailing mother. But on Friday, two of my employees saw Kale and Mushtaq in a five-star hotel in Vile Parle. Then I realized something was amiss and called Kale to my house. On probing I realized what exactly Kale and Mushtaq were upto. They are spoiling my business and I filed an FIR with the Malwani Police Station.”
The Malwani police said, “We lodged an FIR against Santosh Kale and Mushtaq Rauf under Sections 408 (criminal breach of trust), 34 (common intention) of the IPC and 66, 43(A) of the IT Act. We are carrying out the necessary investigations. No arrest has been made so far.”
