Man arrested for duping jeweller of ₹31.5 lakh, accomplice on the run

Borivali police arrested Bherudas Vaishnav for cheating a jeweller of ₹31.5 lakh with fake loan documents; accomplice still at large.

MUMBAI: The Borivali police on Wednesday arrested a man for allegedly cheating a jeweller of ₹31.5 lakh with the help of an accomplice. The police are still tracking down the accomplice, the director of a private credit cooperative society in Bhivandi, and are checking whether the duo have committed similar frauds earlier.

Man arrested for duping jeweller of ₹31.5 lakh, accomplice on the run

According to the Borivali police, the accused, Bherudas Baludas Vaishnav, 40, forged documents with the help of his accomplice Shrikant Shankar Chittapillai, 34, claiming that he had taken a ₹31.50 lakhs loan by mortgaging 562 grams of gold ornaments.

The police said that on June 30, Vaishnav called the victim, Arjun Bothmal Singhvi, a jeweller from Borivali who owns a shop called Mahavir Jewellers. Vaishnav told the victim about his pledged gold, sent him the forged documents via WhatsApp, and convinced Singhvi to pay the credit society ₹31.5 lakh and regain the gold. Vaishnav asked Shinghvi to then sell the gold and return the remaining balance to him.

According to the police, on July 2, Singhvi’s associate accompanied Vaishnav to the credit society. The director of the society, Chittapillai confirmed Vaishnav’s loan, and after further discussions, Singhvi transferred the money directly to Vaishnav through the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) method, a system for high-value transactions between banks in India.

The police said that Singhvi soon realised he had been duped when Vaishnav did not bring him the ornaments, and both Vaishnav and Chittapillai began ignoring his calls. Singhvi then filed a complaint with the Borivali police.

“We have arrested Vaishnav from his house in Borivali and are tracing Chittapillai as he was responsible for presenting fake documents to the complainant,” said a police officer from Borivali police station. The police have booked the duo under sections relating to fraud and misappropriation of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).