Mumbai: Man arrested in Palghar for cheating home buyers of Rs 1.15 crore

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Police arrested a 30-year-old man who had been fleeing arrest since March after allegedly scamming numerous people of Rs 1.15 crore by offering to secure their homes in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official said on Thursday.

The accused was nabbed on Tuesday at Wagralpada, Vasai, after thorough investigations. According to Senior Inspector Raju Mane of Manickpur police station, during interrogation, he enticed home purchasers from Vasai and Virar in Palghar, as well as from neighbouring Mumbai, by promising them rooms in a chawl (row tenement) in Vasai, reported PTI.

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"During his interrogation, it came to light that he lured home buyers from Vasai and Virar in Palghar as well as in neighbouring Mumbai, promising to get them rooms in a chawl (row tenement) in Vasai. The accused took money from them between August 2020 and March 2024 and then fled," Manickpur police station's senior inspector Raju Mane told the news agency.

According to the PTI report, the accused allegedly gathered money from his victims between August 2020 and March 2024 before fleeing, according to the official. The police have yet to reveal the number of victims implicated.

Following a complaint submitted by some of the victims in March 2024, a case was initiated against the suspect under the applicable legal rules. The official further revealed that two more cases against him had previously been registered at the Manickpur police station, the report added.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a 45-year-old man in Thane district was arrested after being found with mephedrone worth Rs 5.85 lakh, an official said on Thursday.

Based on a tip, the Anti-Narcotics Cell squad of the Navi Mumbai police arrested the man on Wednesday morning at 8:30 am in the vicinity of Shil-Phata, according to a Turbhe police station official. He had 58.5 grammes of mephedrone taken from him by the cops, another PTI report stated.

The report added that the man, a resident of Mumbra in Thane and a former scrap trader, has an FIR made against him in accordance with the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The intended buyers and the source of the contraband are being looked into by the police.