Nagpur: A gang of fraudsters duped a Nagpur businessman to the tune of Rs 5.39 crore by promising lucrative returns on foreign investments. On the complaint of Ankurkumar Agrawal, the Economic Offence Wing (EOW ) of Nagpur Police registered a case at Dhantoli police station against 18 accused, including notorious fraudster Mandar Kolte.
Agrawal, a resident of Dighori, operates a coal business. He fell prey to the scam after being introduced to Mandar Kolte. Kolte convinced Agrawal that prominent Mumbai traders are pocketing huge profits by investing in foreign companies. He even orchestrated bogus phone conversations with employees of Extreme Network India Pvt. Ltd to win the confidence of the victim. Kolte also arranged meetings with other accused persons at five star hotels in Mumbai, where they used fake identities.
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According to police, Agrawal trusted Kolte and transferred a total of Rs 5.39 crore to various accounts provided by the fraudsters. The accused had issued a fake Demand Draft to Agrawal during the process. As time passed without any returns on his investment, Agrawal grew suspicious. He discovered that the Demand Draft was counterfeit and the accused had successfully encashed a cheque issued as security. Agrawal lodged a complaint with the EOW.
DCP EOW and Cyber Archit Chandak instructed his team to investigate the matter. The police registered a case under Sections 419, 420, 406, 120 (b) and 34 of Indian Penal Code against 18 accused persons on Sunday.
Currently, all the accused are reportedly on the run. Other accused in the case are Mukesh Chavan (36), a resident of Raigad, Goyal alias Suraj De (45), a resident of Kandivali, Mumbai; Mangesh Patekar alias Dinesh Kadam (44), Mahonish alias Rahul (35), Aman Pandey (40), Bharat alias Suleman (40), Dinesh Mishra, Ajay Waghmare, Rakesh Kumar (50), Raju Mandal (45), Rahul Gaikwad (28), Sandip Patil (33), Alpesh Patel (33), Karan (35), Dinesh Joshi (45), Vikrant (47), all residents of Mumbai; Yunus Sheikh (40), a resident of Hasanbagh, Nagpur.
