The APMC police have arrested a 45-year-old man who cheated a trader of foodgrains worth ₹8.62 lakh.
The complainant, Dhawal Kanji Sota, owns a shop in the grain market of APMC. On May 5, the accused, identified as Amrish Badiyani, came to his shop and introduced himself as a member of the International Association for Human Value, an organisation run by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Mr. Badiyani further claimed that during the lockdown, his organisation had taken up the task of distributing free foodgrain kit containing rice, dal, oil, tea powder and sugar to poor people in Mumbai and he needed 2,000 such kits.
From May 7 to May 9, the trader provided 1,500 kits and the accused kept delaying the payment saying that the organisation would be paying the whole money at one go. The trader finally wrote to the organisation after finding its email ID from the website. The organisation replied that no person named Amrish Badiyani worked with them, and they conducted no such drive.
“On realising that he was cheated, he approached us, and we registered a complaint. We traced the accused to Vashi on Monday and arrested him. Mr. Badiyani has managed to sell some of the kits and the rest have been seized,” an officer from APMC police station said.
