Bus driver dupes 60 migrants of ₹2 lakh in Mira Road

Palghar Sixty migrants including men and women were cheated of Rs 2 lakhs on Tuesday after a bus driver duped them by promising them that he will take the group

Palghar Sixty migrants including men and women were cheated of Rs 2 lakhs on Tuesday after a bus driver duped them by promising them that he will take the group to Kolkata. Each of the victims paid Rs 4,000 to the driver for the trip which never took off.

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The victims, mostly construction workers and housemaids, assembled at the starting point in Kashmira on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway at around 4.30pm waiting for the bus to arrive, but till night there was no sight of the bus and they soon realised they were cheated of their hard-earned money.

Meanwhile, a Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) corporator, Dipika Arora got wind of the case and she rushed to the migrants’ rescue and contacted the MBMC administration who provided the group food and drinking water while Raju Bhoir, a social activist provided shelter to the migrants in a vacant building space, owned by him.

The migrants were not keen to complain to the Kashimira police, but Arora has assured that she will take up the matter with the Thane Rural police after the victims are in the right frame of mind to complain.

The majority of the victims had sold all their belongings including gas stoves, cylinders, utensils, and other belongings to fund for the trip to Kolkata.