E-Paper
Man arrested for illegal money lending and wrongful restraint
Pune: A man was arrested on Tuesday by Pune police for wrongful restraint of a 25-year-old and booked under a state law which restricts money lending without a license.
Pune: A man was arrested on Tuesday by Pune police for wrongful restraint of a 25-year-old and booked under a state law which restricts money lending without a license.
The arrested man was identified as Varad Rajesh Mhetre, 25, a resident of Guruwar peth in Sasane nagar, Pune.
A complaint in the matter was lodged by Rajat Rajesh Fulfagar, 25, a resident of Rasta peth in Pune. Fulfagar owns a business of providing dry-fruits and spices in the city.
Fulfagar was a friend of a man who is the second accused in the case and is yet to be arrested.
According to his complaint, the two had wrongfully restrained him in a flat in Ambegaon between April 20 and April 21. On May 17, the two allegedly went back to his house and tried to intimidate him into giving them money even though the complainant had returned the borrowed money.
“Mhetre was arrested and remanded to judicial custody after which he was bailed out as all sections are bailable. The second accused has switched off his phone and is not at his house,” said police sub-inspector (PSI) Vivek Padvi of Samarth police station who is investigating the case.
Mhetre was a friend of the man who had mediated the borrowing process between Mhetre and the complainant.
“Between December and May, the complainant had borrowed some money from one of the arrested men. That was the cause of tension between them,” said PSI Padvi.
The condition on which Mhetre lent the money was that it be returned with 10 per cent interest. Whether he has the license to demand such interest rate or lend money at all is under investigation.
The complainant has produced bank details of 10 bank transactions between January and February that show the return of Rs 3, 26,999 for the amount of Rs 2, 50,000, according to his complaint.
According to the complaint, the second accused and Fulfagar are friends for 6-7 years. Fulfagar had borrowed money from his accused friend on three occasions - Rs 25,000 the first time, Rs 20,000 the second time, and Rs 2, 50,000 the third time, all in December 2019, according to the complainant.
“The complainant was good friends with the man who is currently at large. He had introduced the complainant to Mhetre. They had met 2-3 times before all this happened. The complainant had approached Mhetre through the second accused,” said PSI Padvi.
A case under Sections 342 (wrong restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code along with Sections 4, 39, and 45 of Maharashtra Money-Lending (Regulation) Act, 2014 was registered at Samarth police station.
