Mumbai: 4 arrested for cheating business firms of lakhs

The police have also discovered that the gang has three cases of cheating registered against it in Uttar Pradesh, where it is alleged to have cheated different firms to the tune of Rs 35.5 lakh.

The Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch Friday nabbed a five-person gang that allegedly cheated several private firms in the city after promising to help them avail loans at low interest rates from public sector banks.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (crime) Akbar Pathan said the gang had set up a website and published advertisements in newspapers and on social media, claiming to specialise in assisting large private firms avail speedy loans with minimal paperwork.

Pathan said the gang would set up meetings in hotels across the city with those in need of loans and prepare mortgage deeds depending on the size of the loan required by each firm.

During the process, one gang member would pose as the manager of the bank granting the loan and show a loan approval letter and demand draft to victims in order to gain their trust. By this time, the gang would have accepted a commission in cash to register the mortgage deed and pay stamp duty fees.

The gang would set a date for the victims to visit the stamp duty registration office to register the mortgage deed, but none of the members would turn up, having already switched off their phones. After being unable to contact the loan facilitators, the companies would approach the police.

The accused — Shoheb Chandiwala (46), Ravindra Kamat (58), Shafik Shaikh (40), Vijay Grover (36) and Hiren Bogayata (38) — were also arrested by the police in Andheri, Kandivali and Sewri in 2010 for allegedly swindling business houses in a similar way, the Crime Branch said.

The police have also discovered that the gang has three cases of cheating registered against it in Uttar Pradesh, where it is alleged to have cheated different firms to the tune of Rs 35.5 lakh.

In the present case, the gang allegedly led the complainant to believe that a loan of Rs 600 crore had been approved, but disappeared after taking a commission of Rs 77,000 from him. The men were arrested at a hotel in Malad West. The police have so far seized Rs 4 lakh from their possession.

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