Mumbai: Five people have been arrested for allegedly duping an Indore-based businessman to the tune of Rs20 lakhs, the police said on Saturday. The arrested accused belonged to a gang, and its mastermind is still at large, officials said.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vikram Kumawat (23), Mukesh Kumawat (28), Hasmukh Surana (52), Mohanlal Kumawat (32) and Vikram Surana (47). As per police, Ujjwal Chandak, a textile trader from Indore lodged a complaint of cheating of Rs20 lakh at Dindoshi police station.
Chandak in his complaint said, "One of the members of the gang approached him while posing as the son of one of his over WhatsApp." According to Ujjwal, the accused pretended to be the son of a businessman who was a friend of the victim, and told him that he was in need of Rs20 lakh.
"The accused claimed that his father was out of the station, and promised that he would return the money as soon as his father comes back," the police said. Officials said that the victim believed him and agreed to give the money. Another accused collected the money on behalf of the prime accused, the victim claimed.
But after two days, when the victim did not get the money back, he called up the accused's number only to find it switched off. When he contacted the business, he claimed that he did not ask for money. This raised suspicion and the victim having no other approached the police and lodged a complaint.
The police on the basis of the complaint launched an investigation and zeroed in on two persons on suspicion. During interrogation, the duo confessed to the crime and on the basis of their leads, the other three accused were arrested from the Virar area of Palghar, officials said. The police also recovered Rs10 Lakhs from them. (ANI)
