Three held for duping people across country

Would buy equipment and pay with cheques that bounced

Seized: The police found equipment worth around ₹30 lakh at the gang’s godown in Gujarat.

The Kurar police have arrested a gang of fraudsters who would procure electric motors by placing orders through bogus email ids and ‘pay’ for them using postdated cheques issued against null accounts.

Equipment worth around ₹30 lakh has been seized from their godown in Gujarat and the accused have been found to have similar cases registered against them in police stations across the country.

According to the Kurar police, inquiries were initiated into the matter after Ranjit Wakle (32), a Malad-based businessman, registered a complaint against the accused in September. Mr. Walke said that from April to June, the accused contacted him through email and finalised a deal for 48 electric motors for pumps used at construction sites. They allegedly paid with postdated cheques, all of which bounced. When repeated attempts to contact them failed, Mr. Wakle registered an FIR against them.

Investigating officers said the investigation was challenging as almost everything, from the email ids to the cheques, was bogus. “The only clue we had was a contact number for the person who picked up the consignment. Inquiries with him revealed that he had only been hired to make the delivery to Gujarat, and even he was provided with only first names and no contact numbers,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone XII) Vinay Rathod said.

Cases across State

He said the police then obtained information about similar offences committed in other locations, and found similar cases had been registered in several police stations in the State.

Mr. Rathod said the investigating team analysed the other cases and looked at the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the emails. They finally found one common link in the form of Dharmil Choksi (22), a Mira Road resident who had placed the orders in more than one case.

Mr. Choksi was picked up for inquiries and arrested last week after his involvement in the offence was established, the police said. Based on the results of his interrogation, the police arrested Chhatrasingh Parmar (28) and Jaimin Amin (32) from Rajkot and Pathankot respectively.

Officers said Mr. Amin, after learning about the arrest of his two accomplices, had fled from his Ahmedabad residence and was hiding in Pathankot, from where he was arrested with the help of the local police and technical investigation.

“All three are businessmen and used to be electric motor dealers. They later hit upon the idea of acquiring the motors at no extra cost with the help of the anonymity offered by the internet. We have recovered electric motors worth around ₹30 lakh from their godown in Gujarat. Inquiries have indicated they have committed similar offences in Mumbai, Nashik, Mira Road, Kolhapur, Sangli, Surat, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi,” Mr. Rathod said.