Thane crime: Real estate dealer "lured" into investment fraud, three booked

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Police in Maharashtra's Thane district has booked three persons for allegedly duping a 54-year-old businessman of Rs 30.3 lakh who lured him into investing in a hotel in the district.

A police official said that based on a complaint, an offence was registered under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code at the MFC police station in Kalyan on Thursday.

The complainant, who has a real estate business, has alleged that the accused lured him to invest in a hotel and took Rs 30.3 lakh from him between June and September 2023, newswire PTI reported.

When the complainant asked the accused about the progress of the project, they gave him evasive replies, following which he lodged a complaint, the official said, adding that no arrest has been made in the case so far.

In another incident, police in Thane district has registered a case against three persons for allegedly cheating a Thane cloth merchant of nearly Rs 41 lakh on the pretext of helping him set up a petrol pump, an official said on Friday.

The trio, identified as Varun Jaiswal, Manoj Sharma, and Amit, first got in touch with the 23-year-old complainant from Bhiwandi in December 2022 with a proposal for a petrol pump.

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Since then, they allegedly made the complainant shell out a total of Rs 41.49 lakh on the pretext of security deposit, licensing fee and funds for machinery for the fuel station, the official said.

However, the accused did not initiate any process for obtaining the necessary permits despite follow-ups, the complainant told the police.

The Thane cloth merchant approached the police with a complaint against the accused on Wednesday after which a case was registered against them under Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating) and 465 (forgery), said the station house officer of the Bhiwandi town police station.

In another incident, police registered a case against four persons, including two women, for allegedly duping 30 people of more than Rs 52 lakh by luring them into investing in their car rental firm, and obtaining loan using the names of some others.

The case was filed at the APMC police station in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday, he said.

The accused, identified as Nisha Gosavi, Farooque, Bhagyashri and Ankush Pawar, were booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention).

Since June 2022, they targeted approximately 30 persons, promising them high returns on investment into their car rental venture. The victims collectively handed over Rs 52,43,000 with the expectation of acquiring cars for their business. However, the accused failed to deliver any vehicle, the complaint said.

The accused also managed to get documents for obtaining loans in the names of 12 other individuals apparently for the purchase of electric scooters. However, they misappropriated the loan amount, the official said. (With inputs from agencies)