I ran a growing business and started transferring temporary surplus funds into trading. At first I always returned the money before it was needed. Then losses became larger, and I began using funds meant for taxes, suppliers and salaries.
The total hole eventually crossed ₹5.6 crore. My accountant resigned after refusing to hide transactions, and that finally exposed everything. My father came out of retirement to help stabilize operations. We sold assets and reduced the business drastically. I had not just lost my money; I had endangered employees who knew nothing about my trades.