The Vashi police are on the lookout for a three-member gang that allegedly cheated a businessman in Bengaluru of ₹12.8 lakh by promising him a loan of ₹6 crore.
The gang members had introduced themselves as Abhishek Tiwari, Joginder Pratap Singh and Meghna Joshi. The complainant, Govind Raj, was in need of ₹6 crore for his business. In May, he asked friends if they knew a financial institution that could lend him the money.
A friend from Navi Mumbai told him about a firm he found online, called ‘Stage solution and project outsourcing and finance consultant company’, at Fantasia Business Park in Vashi. Mr. Raj contacted Mr. Tiwari from the firm, who asked him to send details of the property he intended to mortgage. Mr. Tiwari asked him to meet at the firm’s office in Navi Mumbai.
Mr. Raj met Mr. Tiwari at his Vashi office on May 15 and was asked to pay ₹5 lakh for the loan procedures. Later, Mr. Tiwari sent two men to Bengaluru to verify the property, and asked Mr. Raj to pay them ₹30,000 each for the work.
Mr. Tiwari later asked the complainant to meet his chief financier, Mr. Singh, at the Hyatt hotel in Pune. “The complainant was told he would have to pay 1.25% of the loan amount, and the rate of interest while repaying the loan would be 10%. Mr. Raj then deposited ₹7.5 lakh as told into Mr. Tiwari’s account,” an officer from the Vashi police station said.
Mr. Raj was then asked to sign an agreement, also signed by Mr. Tiwari and Mr. Singh, and was told he would have to visit Pune again to register the document. When he did not get any such call, he contacted them and was given vague reasons for the delay.
After a couple of days, Mr. Raj realised the accused had switched off their mobile phones. Realising that he had been cheated, he approached the police and filed a complaint on November 1. “The investigations are on. The office in Vashi is currently shut and we are trying to trace the accused,” senior police inspector Anil Deshmukh said.
