Couple duped of Rs 80 lakh on promise of getting payments bank's franchisees

Police have registered a case against three persons for allegedly duping a couple in Maharashtras Thane district of Rs 80 lakh by promising to get authorisation to open franchisees of a payments bank officials said on Saturday reported PTIThe incident occurred between August 2022 and April 2023 and an FIR in this connection was registered on Thursday the officials said while sharing an update on the Thane crime reported PTIThe accused have been identified as Kalpit Ashokbhai Soni 46 Kunjalsingh Vikramsing Solanki 33 both from Gujarat and Surendrakumar Kishorelal Sharma 40 from Rajasthan the police said reported PTIThe accused trio contacted a 46yearold businesswoman who along with her husband was assured that they would be granted authorisation to open franchisees of a payments bank an official of Kasarvadavli police station said while sharing an update on the Thane crime reported PTIBetween August 2022 and April 2023 the accused offered the businesswoman and her husband franchise opportunities in Maharashtra Goa and Gujarat They promised that they would secure them the gold loan franchiseemaster franchisee and cash management schemes The couple believed them and transferred Rs 80 lakh to the accused in instalments to their bank accounts he saidBut despite paying money to them the victims neither got their money back nor received the authorisation for franchisees of a payments bank After the couple realised that they had been duped they lodged a complaint the official saidThe accused trio was booked on the charges of criminal breach of trust forgery criminal breach of trust cheating criminal conspiracy and common intentionNine persons booked for cheating job aspirants of Rs 744 lakh link to rail officials being probedNine persons including four members of a family were booked in Kalyan in Thane district for allegedly cheating job aspirants of Rs 7440 lakh a police official said on FridayThe other five accused are believed to be railway personnel among them a medical officer the MFC police station official saidSenior Inspector Dyaneshwar Sable identified one of the accused as Kalyan resident Anant Ballal who promised the complainant a railway jobAs per the complainant Ballal along with his wife and two children took money from him between January and May this year but the promised job never materialised Ballal also got the complainant to meet several persons who the former claimed were railway officials helping to expedite the process the official saidHe even provided the complainant with a fake appointment letter and showed him fabricated emails We believe the accused has taken Rs 744 lakh from the complainant and other job seekers in Roha in Raigad and other places We are probing if those the complainant met are indeed railway officials or imposters the official saidA case of cheating forgery and other offences has been registered but no arrest has been made Sable informedWith inputs from PTI