The Mumbai police’s crime branch claimed to have busted an inter-state gang by arresting three men who allegedly duped businessmen of several lakhs by arranging meetings in posh hotels under the pretext of offering them business opportunities, a police officer said on Wednesday. The gang members used to contact potential targets and convince them to come for a ‘business’ meeting to clinch attractive deals.

“The accused are Majib Abdul Khan alias Mannu, 44, a resident of Uttar Pradesh; Mayank Pradeep Sharma alias Laddu, 22; a resident of Delhi; and Akash Dwarkaprasad Agrawal alias Kabir, 19, from Thane,” the officer said, adding that some more people were involved in the crime. They were arrested by Unit 8 of the Mumbai Crime Branch, he said.