78-year-old man duped of ₹38 lakh by tenant

A 78-year-old resident of Mumbai was allegedly duped of ₹38 lakh by his tenant, who used forged signatures to transfer the money to his own account. The accused, identified as Hitendra Thakkar, had gained the victim's trust by helping with his financial transactions. The victim discovered the fraud when he noticed changes to his Demat account details. A case has been registered against Thakkar, who has not yet been arrested.

Mumbai: A 78-year-old Mulund resident was allegedly duped by his tenant of ₹38 lakh by using his forged signatures on a power of attorney, and authorisation letter, changing the mobile number on his Demat account and transferring the money to his relative’s bank account.

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The accused was identified as Hitendra Thakkar, a resident of Mulund who deals in shares and mutual funds.

According to the police, the complainant, Gurmukh Singh Bhui, 78, lives in Runwal Tower, situated on LBS Road in Mulund West along with his wife. His two sons stay abroad. The victim was an engineer and after retirement, he invested all his savings into shares and mutual funds.

The victim owned a shop in Mulund West which was rented by Thakkar around five years ago through his common friend where he runs his office. Whenever the victim required a printout of his savings of mutual funds Thakkar used to help him and provide for him, so he started trusting him.

The victim suspected foul play when he went to take a statement of his mutual funds in Bandhan Bank in Mulund West branch and learnt that the email ID and contact number were changed, and Thakkar’s email ID and mobile number were mentioned. Bhui inquired with Thakkar, but he avoided giving any proper answers, as mentioned in the FIR. Thakkar then started avoiding the victim’s call, so his suspicion increased.

Bhui approached the bank and inquired about his demat account and financial transaction he learnt that without providing any knowledge to him, Thakkar had used his forged signature on the demat account opening form, authorisation letter and power of attorney and opened a Demat account on the victim’s name mentioning his own mobile number and email account, said a police officer. The accused mentioned his mobile number and email ID so he could get the OTP and emails without the knowledge of Bhui, said a police officer.

The complainant accessed the statement of the demat account by giving his PAN card Xerox and found that several transactions had taken place from September and October months without his knowledge. The accused had transferred a total ₹38.26 lakh from the complainant’s account to his relative’s account for his own benefit, added the officer. The complainant approached the Mulund police last week and based on his written complaint, an enquiry was conducted and once it was clear that Thakkar had cheated the complainant, a case was registered against him. We have been gathering evidence against the accused. He has not arrested yet in the case, said police inspector Adinath Gavade of the Mulund police station.