Four convicted of Rs 35 lakh share theft and transfer

MUMBAI: Four accused have been convicted in a 20-year-old scam in which a postman, in collusion with a businessman and others, stole shares worth Rs 35 lakh in 1999. The 4,500 shares of Global TeleSystems Ltd were to be delivered by the post office to the company's Navi Mumbai office. However, the postman facilitated their theft and handover to a businessman who, using forged deeds, transferred it on his name and later sold them.

Three persons, Santosh Jain, Jitendra Doshi and Sushil Vettath were sentenced to five years. A woman accused, Sheela Suryavanshi (59) who helped open a bogus demataccount and prepare bogus share transfer deeds was sentenced to two years. She was granted bail. The postman, DR Kamble, and another accused, Kundan Dandvate, died during pendency of the case.