Two businessmen were cheated of ₹40 lakh in a span of a month, after being promised a commission for providing ₹2,000 notes in exchange for notes of ₹100 and ₹500. Police suspect the perpetrator in both cases to be the same.
In the first case, registered with the Turbhe MIDC police on July 23, Yogesh Shetty from New Delhi was cheated of ₹25 lakh by a certain Sonu Singh and his accomplice. “The accused met Mr. Shetty via a third person , and promised him commission for giving cash in notes of ₹2,000,” senior police inspector Amar Desai, Turbhe MIDC police station, said.
On July 22, Mr. Shetty met Mr. Singh outside Haripriya hotel in Mahape, and gave him the money. Mr. Singh said he had a machine to count money in the vehicle, and fled with the cash.
In a similar case registered with the Kharghar police on August 4, Rajan Gandhi, a businessman from Mahad was cheated of ₹15 lakh. Mr. Gandhi met Andeepkumar Gautam, who told him about earning 15% commission in exchange for ₹2,000 notes, at a hotel in January. When Mr. Gandhi showed interest in the scheme, Mr. Gautam introduced him to one Dheerajbhai.
On August 2, when Mr. Gandhi reached Kharghar railway station with the money, Dheerajbhai called him and said he was stuck in traffic. He told Mr. Gandhi his partner, Shabeer, would meet him. Shabeer met Mr. Gandhi and took him to a hotel in Kharghar where they met Arvind Patel, who would exchange the notes.
Mr. Patel showed Mr. Gandhi the ₹100 notes and chatted with him for a while. After this, he asked Shabeer to take the money given by Mr. Gandhi to the vehicle, and count it using the machine. Mr. Patel also excused himself after a while and left.
“Since nobody turned up after a while, Mr. Gandhi looked around for the bag which had the ₹100 notes, but could not find it. He also found the numbers of all three men switched off, and registered a case with us once he realised he had been cheated,” an officer from Kharghar police station said.
The police suspect that the accused in both cases could be the same as the modus operandi was the same.
