MUMBAI: The L T Marg police have begun the process to return the Rs 1 crore that a Goa-based developer had lost while making a transfer of money through a city-based angadia. Initially, it was a Rs 10 lakh cheating case wherein a person, posing as an associate of the developer, collected money from the agnadia and vanished. When the angadia was questioned, information about cheating of further Rs 90 lakh came to light.
The developer requested his friend in Panipat to send him Rs 90 lakh for his project through a Mumbai angadia. The developer also asked his brother, who was in Mumbai, to give Rs 10 lakh to the angadia. He contacted the angadia and told him that his manager would coordinate.
The developer’s ‘manager’ sent a photo of Rs 10 note through WhatsApp to angadiya saying his man, Vishnu, would collect Rs 10 lakh first. Vishnu came, showed the photo of Rs 10 note on his WhatsApp with the same serial number and took the money away. When the developer didn’t get the money, his brother lodged an FIR. Zonal DCP Neelotpal said, “The applicant approached us and we immediately registered an offence. Police teams were sent to Goa and Bangalore.”
The angadia told police that he had got Rs one crore and sent Rs 45 lakh to Ahmedabad, gave Rs 10 lakh to Vishnu and sent the remaining money to Goa. When probing the WhatsApp number, police reached Vinod Khandari, a resident of Surat. He admitted that he had received the money and said that he gave Rs 20 lakh to a man (developer’s friend) who tipped them off, and sent Rs 45 lakh from Ahmedabad to Bangalore. “All the money has been recovered,” said police. —Mateen Hafeez
