PUNE: Harshal Thakre, chief executive officer of ThynkTech India OPC Ltd — the Noida-based IT firm that shut down its branch in Hinjewadi without any notice on April 22 — had hired many freshers last year possibly hoping to secure govt projects, police said on Wednesday citing preliminary probe.Thakre was arrested from Nashik in an alleged cheating and criminal breach of trust case registered on Monday night. An intern had filed the complaint alleging the firm cheated employees and withheld salaries. The firm collected Rs 15,000 from each employee for issuing laptops, but never returned the amount, the complaint stated.Senior inspector Balaji Pandhare of the Hinjewadi police told TOI , “Probe so far revealed that Thakre did not have any projects in hand that required such a large workforce. He was probably aiming some govt IT projects.”At least 500 IT engineers, employees and interns were rendered jobless after ThynkTech shut down its Hinjewadi branch.According to the police, after the company shutdown, Thakre moved to Nashik and remained uncooperative despite repeated attempts to contact him. “A police team was dispatched to his residence at Adgaon in Nashik on Tuesday to prevent him from fleeing. His wife initially claimed he was not at home. But we had credible information and waited for over two hours. He eventually came out from the bedroom, and we immediately detained him,” assistant police inspector Somnath Panchal said.The police suspected that Thakre was preparing to leave Nashik when he was apprehended. He was brought to Hinjewadi on Tuesday night and formally arrested on Wednesday. Thakre was produced before a court, which remanded him to police custody till June 9.According to the complaint, the firm had collected a deposit of Rs 15,000 from each employee for issuing laptops but neither returned the deposits nor paid their salaries. “Thakre holds an MTech degree and also claimed to have previously worked with a prominent IT firm. We are verifying his claims,” Pandhare said.Besides Thakre, the police have also registered a case under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against the firm’s training and development head, and HR head, whose whereabouts are currently not known. “We are searching for them,” Pandhare said.
