Opened shop in SoBo's Oberoi hotel shopping centre to deceive jewellers; after winning their trust, they'd buy gold ornaments with dud cheques and flee with booty
Opened shop in SoBo's Oberoi hotel shopping centre to deceive jewellers; after winning their trust, they'd buy gold ornaments with dud cheques and flee with booty
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In a joint operation conducted by the Marine Drive and Nirmal Nagar police stations, four persons were arrested for cheating several jewellers across the city to the tune of Rs 1 crore.
Cops think that with the news of the arrest, more jewellers might come forward to complain, taking the total booty to as high as Rs 3 crore. 
Spilled beans: After the arrest of the mastermind Ibrahim Sheikh, he
revealed the names of his three other accomplices, including Shakeel
Ahmed (right), who were later arrested
"The accused, arrested over a week back, have been charged under IPC sections of cheating and forging documents. They are under police custody and we are investigating the matter. Till now, we have recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 40 lakh from them," said Police Inspector Avinash Shingte of Marine Drive police station.
Illusion of riches
According to the police, mastermind of the con Ibrahim Sheikh, along with Shakeel Ahmed, Hamza Mohammad and Hemant Shah, rented a shop in the swanky Oberoi Hotel shopping centre in south Mumbai, which houses several upscale shops.
The foursome then approached the jewellers they had targeted and requested a small consignment of gold ornaments. By making cash payment the first time and dropping their shop's plush address casually, they'd win the trust of the jewellers.
Soon, a second large order would be placed. This time, on a pretext, the accused would write a cheque, which later bounced, but by that time, the four would be nowhere to be found.
"The documents they submitted to open a bank account were also fake," said Shingte.
After the matter was reported, the Marine Drive police tracked Sheikh to his house in Naupada, Khar (East), only to find it locked.
On January 20, the Nirmal Nagar police in Khar received a tip-off that he was residing in the house with his family with the door locked from the outside to fool the cops. The cops then raided the house, broke open the door and arrested him.
On interrogation, he revealed the names of his accomplices and they were arrested from their residences in Dongri.
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