Hyderabad's Central Crime Station (CCS) has registered a significant fraud case against a former employee of a local CCTV and ELV solutions company. The accused is alleged to have diverted customer payments worth over ₹1.46 crore to personal UPI accounts over several years.
Details of the Alleged Financial Fraud
The complaint was filed by Mohammed Zubair Osmani, who is the proprietor of IPSYS company and also serves as the director of HOOPOE Infotech Pvt Ltd. According to the First Information Report (FIR), the principal accused, Syed Salahuddin Ahmed, was employed by Osmani from November 23, 2020, to December 18, 2025. His responsibilities included sales and collecting payments from customers.
Osmani stated that Ahmed was explicitly instructed to collect payments only into the company's official bank accounts or authorized UPI IDs. He was permitted to update internal accounts only when the regular accountant was unavailable. However, a routine internal verification on December 15, 2025, uncovered serious discrepancies.
How the Fraud Was Uncovered
"The fraud was detected during an internal verification that found mismatches between settlements shown in our accounting software and the actual credits received in our bank," Osmani told the police. Following this discovery, an internal audit was conducted. The audit revealed that a significant volume of customer payments had been routed to unauthorized UPI IDs that were linked to Afshan Jabeen, the wife of the accused Ahmed.
When confronted, Syed Salahuddin Ahmed allegedly admitted to the fund diversion on December 17, 2025. Shockingly, the illegal transfer of funds reportedly continued even after this admission, with another incident noted on December 18. The complainant engaged a chartered accountant firm to conduct a full reconciliation, which identified a clear pattern of fraud.
The fraudulent method involved:
- Partial deposits of customer payments into the company's legitimate accounts.
- Creating back-dated or manipulated entries in the accounting software to hide the shortfall.
- Suppressing receipts that were fully diverted through the personal UPI accounts of Afshan Jabeen.
Scale of the Embezzlement and Legal Action
The forensic accounting exercise quantified the certified diversions in two major periods:
Between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025: Alleged diversion of ₹85.71 lakh.
Between April 1, 2025, and December 17, 2025: Alleged diversion of ₹60.56 lakh.
This brings the total identified amount to over ₹1.46 crore. The complaint notes that the final figure could be even higher, as a forensic review of the entire period from 2020 is still pending.
In a disturbing post-fraud development, Osmani also reported receiving threatening calls on December 27 from an individual identifying himself as Md Khan. A CCS official confirmed that the caller allegedly claimed to be speaking on Ahmed's behalf and threatened to damage the complainant's business property.
Charges Filed by Hyderabad Police
Based on the complaint, the CCS Hyderabad registered a case on Sunday. The charges are serious and multi-faceted:
- Sections 316(4) and 344 read with 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS): These pertain to criminal breach of trust by a clerk or servant and falsification of accounts with common intention.
- Section 43 read with 66 of the Information Technology (IT) Act: These sections deal with penalties and punishment for damage to computer systems and data theft.
An investigator involved in the case stated, "We are analysing the case particulars and appropriate legal action will be initiated against the accused based on the findings of the preliminary probe." The police have named Syed Salahuddin Ahmed as the principal accused, his wife Afshan Jabeen as a co-accused, and their associate Syed Jalal as a suspected conspirator.
This case highlights the critical need for robust internal financial controls within businesses, especially concerning digital payment channels like UPI, which can be misused without proper oversight.
