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Man held for cheating Delhi gold merchant of ₹80 lakh
A 50-year-old man has been arrested from Thane for allegedly cheating a Delhi-based gold merchant of ₹80 lakh, police said on Wednesday.
A 50-year-old man has been arrested from Thane for allegedly cheating a Delhi-based gold merchant of ₹80 lakh, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, Vijay Ambalal Soni, was also wanted by Nagpur police in Maharashtra for allegedly siphoning off ₹25 lakh from a private sector bank, they said.
Soni, hailing from Mehsana in Gujarat, set up a small jewellery shop in Karol Bagh area of Delhi some months ago.
On October 23, 2019, he placed an order with wholesale merchant Krishnadev Khupkar for a two-kg gold bar. After taking delivery of the gold bar, Soni left telling Khupkar that he was going to a bank to transfer the money into the latter’s account.
When Soni did not return, Khupkar filed a police complaint with the Karol Bagh police of being cheated of gold worth around ₹80 lakh, Thane anti-extortion cell’s police inspector Rajkumar Kothmire said.
Khupkar also approached the Thane police’s AEC last month after he got a tip-off that Soni was to come here.
The AEC officers nabbed Soni from Talao Pali area on Tuesday and booked him under IPC sections for cheating. His modus operandi was to set up a small jewellery shop and place orders for gold with wholesale merchants, assistant commissioner of police (Crime) NT Kadam said.
After winning the confidence of merchants, he used to place big orders and run away after taking delivery of gold. The accused has been handed over to Karol Bagh police in Delhi.
He was also wanted in another case registered at Ganeshpath police station in Nagpur for allegedly siphoning off ₹25.11 lakh from a Mumbai-based branch of a private bank through online transfer, the police said.
He was also wanted in a case of cheating registered by the LT Marg police in Mumbai.
His interrogation revealed that cheating and other offences were registered against him at Boisar in Palghar district and at Surat in Gujarat, Kadam said. Soni was booked under Indian Penal Code Section 407 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention) by Boisar police in 2013. He served two-year jail term.
