Father-son duo dupes Wadala bizman of ₹50 lakh

Mumbai: Two fishermen have been booked for allegedly duping a Wadala-based businessman of ₹50 lakh

Mumbai: Two fishermen have been booked for allegedly duping a Wadala-based businessman of ₹50 lakh.

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According to the Colaba police, the businessman, Shahid Iqbal Khan, 34, claimed that the father-son duo had borrowed a fishing boat from him and promised him a 50% share in the profit and a monthly rent of ₹1 lakh. However, they neither paid him the share in the profit and rent despite using the boat for around three years, nor did they return the fishing trawler belonging to the businessman.

Khan, who supplies batteries for fishing boats in the Colaba region, in 2010 met Somanath Chavan, 54 and his son Kumar Chavan, 32 for some work. In 2019, Khan told Kumar that he was planning to buy a boat and the father-son duo showed interest in taking the boat on rent. “It was decided that Khan would buy the boat, and give it to them for fishing on a monthly rent of ₹1 lakh and also 50% share in the profit,” a police officer said.

Khan bought a fibre craft fishing boat, The Sea Gull, from a Thane businessman for ₹30 lakh. Since the boat was not in use for a year the father-son duo told Khan that they needed money to repair it. Following this, Khan borrowed ₹15 lakh from a friend and gave it to Chavan and his son.

Later, the accused told Khan that they needed more money to buy fishing related equipment, diesel and ice. For which Khan spent an additional amount of ₹35 lakh, the FIR stated.

After a few months when Khan asked the fishermen for his share of the profit and the rent, the father-son duo started ignoring him. After he rigorously followed matters with them, they paid a sum of ₹10 lakh.

Khan told the police that he recently discovered that the two had usurped the boat and had replaced the name on the boat from ‘The Sea Gull’ to ‘Ganesh Krupa’ and they had also changed its registration number.

Khan realised that the two had no intention to return the boat and approached the police. The father-son duo has been booked under sections 420 (cheating), 265 (fraudulent use of false weight or measure), 468 (forgery) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.