Navi Mumbai Police arrest two persons for allegedly cheating contractor of Rs 50 lakh

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Two persons have been apprehended by the Navi Mumbai police on charges of cheating a contractor of Rs 50 lakh by luring him to invest in a fraudulent scheme, an official said on Saturday.

Venkatesh Balkrishna Sada (41) and Prakash Dhuri (66) were taken into custody on Friday, while two other suspects remain at large, newswire PTI reported quoting the official.

According to the police, the accused allegedly lured the complainant, a contractor from Kalwa in neighbouring Thane, to invest in a fraudulent corporate social responsibility (CSR) scheme at the APMC Market in Navi Mumbai.

A case under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the accused on Thursday, he said.

Sada allegedly posed as an employee of a multinational company, enticed the complainant with the promise of a lucrative CSR opportunity and made him invest Rs 50 lakh, senior inspector Ajay Shinde said.

On February 7, Navi Mumbai Police booked two persons associated with a finance firm for alleged duping loan seekers of Rs 15 lakhs, an official said. The accused, attached with a finance company based in Navi Mumbai's Vashi, allegedly duped 32 loan seekers.

According to a report by newswire PTI, the accused lured victims over the past year with the promise to facilitate loans which they wanted to avail.

An official from Vashi Police Station told the news agency that the victims were allegedly charged commissions which totalled Rs 15, 14, 500 but the loans promised were never provided.

The accused, reportedly, later closed their operations, absconded and disconnected their contact numbers, the complainant told the cops.

Based on the complaint, the cops, PTI report stated, have registered a case on Monday against the two fraudsters under Sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code and added that they are conducting a probe into the case.

In another incident, a civic clerk and a former employee of a civic body were arrested under bribery charges. According to the Anti-Corruption Bureau, a former employee of the civic body and a clerk at the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in Maharashtra's Thane district has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 for a consultant for property tax assessment, stated a PTI report. (With inputs from agencies)