Mumbai Crime: Woman, daughter dupe 130 people of Rs 5 crore; arrested

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A fifty-three-year-old woman and her daughter were arrested by Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing for duping 130 people of Rs 5 crore. The duo promised people flats built by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) under the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme.

The duo have been identified as Sushila Narayan Shetty and her daughter, 32-year-old Suman Shetty. A complaint was filed against the duo by Sudhir Shetty, who stayed in the same building as Sushila. According to the complainant, Sushila claimed to be a social activist working for organisation, the Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centre (SPARC).

Sushila then proceeded to convice Sudhir that slum dwellers from Powai, Diva, Mumbra and Kalwa among other areas would receive MMRDA flats under the SRS scheme, and that therefore, he should buy slums to take advantage of the same. Convinced by the plan, Sudhir purchased 2 slum rooms for Rs 6 lakhs each, and received the transfer documents for the same. The victim, also introduced some of his relatives to the accused's proposition.

However, after a period of time, Sudhir and the other victims were unable to contact Sushila. A report in the Hindustan Times quotes a police source as having stated, "Sudhir and others were left shocked when in 2014 they found that their names were not there in the list of those project-affected people, who were allotted rooms by MMRDA in Kanjurmarg and Nahur. Sudhir and other victims when they visited Sushila's place a number of times were shocked to discover that like them Sushila had duped nearly 130 people of Rs5 crore."

Based on the statements of 94 victims whose statements were recorded by the Economic Offences wing, a case has been registered against Sushila, and her daughter who assisted her in the scheme under the Indian Penal Code.

Also Read: Mumbai Crime: Three Directors Of Firms Arrested In Rs 290 Crore Bank Loan Fraud

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