Two Kalwa residents booked for cheating jeweller of Rs 7.15 lakh in Thane

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Thane police has registered a case against two persons for allegedly cheating a jeweller of Rs 7.15 lakh in the city, police said on Monday. Based on a complaint, newswire PTI reported, the police has registered an FIR under sections 420 (cheating) and 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code against two Kalwa residents.

The accused allegedly approached the jeweller in October last year to purchase ornaments. The accused were acquainted with the complainant, and on request, they were allowed to take the ornaments to show their family members, he said.

The duo allegedly absconded with the valuables and evaded the complainant's phone calls, the official said, adding that efforts are on to track down the accused.

In a separate incident, Thane police arrested four members of a gang involved in stealing vehicles and selling them after tampering with documents, an official said on Monday.

The accused were arrested from different parts of the state in the last two days, and 47 stolen vehicles worth more than Rs 7.32 crore were recovered, MBVV Police Commissioner Madhukar Pandey said.

The racket came to light when the police were probing into cases of vehicle theft registered at Kashimira and Valiv police stations in February and June 2021, he said.

The gang allegedly used fake documents to register non-existent vehicles in states such as Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland and obtained registration numbers and online NOCs from RTO offices for re-registration in Maharashtra, the official said.

The accused then allegedly stole vehicles matching the information in NOCs, replaced the engine and chassis numbers, and registered them in Maharashtra for resale, he said.

The thefts had taken place in the jurisdiction of 16 police stations over the last three to four years, the official said.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai Customs seized more than 3.03 kg gold valued at Rs 1.66 crore in ten different cases over four days at the city international airport, officials said on Monday.

The Airport Commissionarate of Mumbai Customs found the gold concealed in places such as the aircraft seat, body cavities of passengers, a washroom, butter packets, handkerchiefs and other clothes of passengers from March 1 to 4, the Mumbai Customs Zone-III posted on its official X handle.

While examining the luggage of the suspected passengers, officials found gold concealed in small packets of butter, handkerchiefs and other clothes, officials added. (With inputs from PTI)