Law student dupes bizman of ₹35 lakh, arrested from Rajasthan

According to the complainant, Ashok Rajani – who is also on the board of directors of Hotel Leela – the conman posed as a senior official with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and claimed to be deputed with the Central Government.

Mumbai: The Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Mumbai Police, on Saturday, arrested a law student from Udaipur, Rajasthan, for allegedly cheating an apparel manufacturer and exporter from the city of ₹35 lakh under the guise of helping him settle his pending loan account.

Law student dupes bizman of ₹35 lakh, arrested from Rajasthan

As per police officials, the accused – identified as Tushar Suthar – has a history of cheating his relatives from Rajasthan.

According to the complainant, Ashok Rajani – who is also on the board of directors of Hotel Leela – the conman posed as a senior official with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and claimed to be deputed with the Central Government. Suthar promised him to settle his loan account and litigation arising out of it which was pending before the Debt Recovery Tribunal in the city.

“Rajani, 72, had taken a loan of ₹13 crores from Vijaya Bank, which later merged into Bank of Baroda. However, due to business losses in the past few years, he could not repay the loan on time,” said a police officer.

The bank had declared his loan as a Non-Performing Asset (NPA) and even moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal, Mumbai, to recover the loan amount, he added. The victim was disturbed since then and wanted to get out of the problem.

“One of his old friends – Dilip Sharma, who stayed in London – came to Mumbai at times and met him. Sharma had introduced him to Suthar,” added the police officer. “Suthar, who posed as Tushar Sharma, told Dilip he had good contacts everywhere. Then Dilip introduced him to Rajani who was in trouble due to the outstanding loan.”

Suthar told Rajani that he would charge ₹85 lakh for getting the matter settled, he added. He told the businessman that he would hand over a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to the loan account by December 15 and took ₹35 lakh as advance from Rajani.

Suthar, however, could not secure any NOC which made him suspicious as he even started avoiding him. Rajani then inquired about him and learnt that the accused was not working with RBI nor was he on any Central deputation, after which he approached the Marine Drive police station.

An FIR was registered under sections 170 (personating a public servant), 420 (cheating) and 419 (cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code.