Lured by cheap Garba passes of Falguni Pathak show, man loses ₹5.17 lakh

The complainant, Nihar Shreyas Modi, a resident of Thakur Village, Kandivali, along with his parents, wanted to go for the Falguni Pathak Garba nights at Chikuwadi, Borivali West. However, the passes cost ₹4,800 per head and he could not afford them. On Tuesday, Modi learnt from his friend Shreyas Shah that one of his acquaintances had passes which were selling for ₹3,300 per person

Mumbai: A 20-year-old man and his friends lost ₹5.17 lakh to a man who promised them Garba passes of the Falguni Pathak show at discounted rates.

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The complainant, Nihar Shreyas Modi, a resident of Thakur Village, Kandivali, along with his parents, wanted to go for the Falguni Pathak Garba nights at Chikuwadi, Borivali West. However, the passes cost ₹4,800 per head and he could not afford them. On Tuesday, Modi learnt from his friend Shreyas Shah that one of his acquaintances had passes which were selling for ₹3,300 per person.

Modi called up his acquaintance Vishal Shah who has a marble flooring business in Borivali. “Modi told Vishal that he needed 156 passes for him and his friends. Vishal told Modi that he would send a man to collect the cash, and then he would send the address from where he could pick up the passes,” an officer from MHB Colony police station said.

On Thursday, Modi collected ₹5.17 lakh from his friends and reached the spot near the Western Express Highway in Borivali where a man arrived in an auto. “He had a white handkerchief on his head and steel rods next to him in the auto. He collected the cash from us and left in the same auto,” Modi told the police.

Vishal then called Modi and asked him to go to Green Building number 2 in MHB Colony and collect the passes. When Modi went to MHB Colony and searched the building, he could not find the address. Thereafter, when Modi called up Vishal, he found that he had switched off his phone.

Modi, who owns a paint business, then realised that he had been cheated and approached the MHB colony police station, and based on his complaint, the police registered a cheating case against Vishal.

“We have recorded the statements of Modi and his friends and are now searching for Vishal,” the officer said.