Over 150 Nagpur farmers cheated of Rs 113 crore in loan fraud, 18 booked

More than 150 farmers have been allegedly cheated of Rs 113 crore in a loan fraud in three tehsils of Nagpur district in Maharashtra a police official said on Thursday reported the PTIThe main accused is a rice mill owner from Mauda who allegedly lured 151 farmers with promises of financial help after a wet drought in the region in 2017 the official said according to the PTIHe and his associates got bank accounts opened in the name of these 151 farmers from Mauda Parseoni and Ramtek tehsils after getting them to give their PAN and Aadhaar details he said the news agency reportedLoans ranging from Rs 45 lakh to Rs 50 lakh were obtained in their names from a bank in Kingsway in Sadar and then these were siphoned off into accounts of 12 firms owned by main accused Ramannnarao Bolla the official added according to the PTIThe fraud came to light when several of these farmers who had no idea about these loans recently got recovery notices from the bank after which they confronted the main accused he saidWhile Bolla promised to return the money he did not keep his promise after which they approached police Six of these farmers did not even own agricultural land he saidA case of cheating and other offences under the Indian Penal Code Information Technology and Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act has been registered against Bolla and 17 others including personnel from the bank and the 12 firms owned by the main accusedMeanwhile in an another incident the Mumbai police arrested a 23yearold man for allegedly duping holidayers on the pretext of online booking of villas and bungalows an official said on Wednesday the PTI reportedAkash Wadhwani a resident of the eastern suburb of Ghatkopar was taken into custody from a hotel in Juhu on Monday He would often stay put in luxury hotels to evade arrest the official said He faces nearly 20 such cases said the officialWadhwanis arrest came on a complaint filed last week by an employee of a private firm located in the business hub of BandraKurla Complex BKCThe complainant told the police that she was cheated of Rs 90000 after she tried to make an online booking for a villa at Alibaug for a vacationAccording to the complainant she came across a website vistarastayscom when she was searching online for villas and bungalows at Alibaug for a vacationAfter she contacted the website the woman was asked to pay Rs 90000 to book a villa in the coastal town the official said citing her complaintHowever closer to the booking date the person she was in touch with became unreachable the official saidSubinspector Rajesh Garad from BKC police station said With the help of technical evidence we nabbed Wadhwani from a hotel in JuhuWadhwani has been booked under Section 420 cheating of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act the official addedwith PTI inputs