Two dupe people by creating fake MHADA website, held

Representational Pic/File

Mumbai Police arrested two men for allegedly creating a website imitating the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority's (MHADA) portal and duping people under the pretext of providing flats under a government housing scheme, an official said on Sunday, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, one of the accused, identified as Kalpesh Sevak, created the website, and his accomplice Amol Patel allegedly posed as a MHADA officer to deceive victims into paying Rs 30 lakh for non-existent flats, the official said.

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Sevak was nabbed by the official of the Cyber Crime unit of Mumbai Police from Mahim area of Mumbai and Patel from Nalasopara in Palghar district, he said.

The fake website, mhada.org, was designed to mislead users into making payments through an online link. The official MHADA site is https://mhada.gov.in.
MHADA, a statutory housing authority and a nodal agency of the Maharashtra government, provides affordable housing in the state, as per the PTI.

Recently, MHADA reported the scam to the police, leading to the arrests and the filing of an FIR under relevant sections of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology Act.

The accused used to contact aspirants looking for flats under the MHADA housing scheme after securing their details from the duplicate website.

"They used to tell the applicants that a flat is available for sale in Goregaon area for Rs 30 lakh and asked them to pay via the online link provided on the dummy website," the official said.

10 booked for trying to extort money from Thane man over 'Ganpati donation'

Meanwhile, the Thane police on Sunday registered a case against 10 persons for threatening a man to cough up Rs 51,000 for a ¿donation¿ towards the upcoming Ganpati festival, an official said, according to the PTI.

According to the official from Srinagar police station, the complainant was sitting in the office of a political party on Saturday night when the accused arrived there.

They asked him to contribute towards the Ganesh festival, which will be held next month. But they became aggressive after the 38-year-old complainant said he would donate Rs 5,000, the official said citing the FIR.

While the accused abused him and demanded Rs 51,000, one of them pulled out a chopper and threatened to kill him if he didn't pay the amount, the complainant told the police. They then left the place.

Police have booked the group for extortion. Some of the accused have been identified as Akash Bind, Babu @ Suraj Bind, Sriom Yadav, Chandan Gupta and Sunny, the official added.

(with PTI inputs)