The Powai police have launched a manhunt for three men who allegedly duped an Indore based businessman of Rs 41 lakh in Powai. The complainant Piyush Gupta said his friend had been promised gold biscuits at a rate below the market price and so, he was called to Mumbai for the deal.
During the handover of cash for the gold, three men arrived in an Innova car, allegedly assaulted Gupta’s friends, and fled with a bag containing cash. The accused Amit Jain, Rajesh Jain, Shubhash and others have been booked under Sections 318(4) and 3(5) of the BNS. Gupta, 48, runs an import export garment business in Indore Madhya Pradesh. He said his friends Nadeem Khan of Andheri and Nasir Khan of Bandra contacted him last month claiming to know someone who could supply gold at 10 percent below market price. Gupta traveled to Mumbai in the first week of September where he was introduced to a woman named Vaishali Samant and a man identified as Manoj Dhulia.
The two further introduced him to the accused, Amit Jain, Rajesh Jain, and Shubhash, the trio he was allegedly making a deal with. The first meeting near Mahim station was canceled due to Ganesh immersion processions. Gupta had kept Rs 20 lakh at a friend’s house in Malad after the deal was postponed. Subsequent meetings at Chembur and Wadala were also delayed by the accused citing police surveillance.
Gupta returned to Indore on September 4 but received another call from Rajesh Jain promising a 15 percent lower price. He returned to Mumbai on September 10 and met the accused on September 12 near Santosh Bar on Saki Vihar Road Powai, where he had asked Gupta to bring cash for the deal. Gupta had come with his two friends Nadeem and Nasir. According to police, a man in his 20s, sent by the three accused, showed Gupta a gold biscuit and asked for cash in return. He then took the bag which Gupta brought, containing Rs 41 lakh cash and instructed Gupta to follow him for a short distance.
Meanwhile, an Innova car without a registration plate arrived, two men got out, assaulted the 20-year-old man along with Gupta’s friends, threatened them and made the 20-year-old man sit in the car with the bag, and fled leaving Gupta and his friends behind.
The businessman was scared and went back to Indore. He called Amit and Rajesh Jain who said they would soon give him gold or find a way to return his cash. He however, later found their numbers were switched off and realised he had been duped. He then came to Mumbai and registered an FIR at the Powai police station on Saturday, said senior inspector Jitendra Sonawane of Powai police station.
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