Man dupes companies of ₹10 crore by taking laptops on rent, selling them

A 40-year-old man has been arrested in Delhi for duping companies in Mumbai of ?10 crore by renting laptops and selling them at market rates. The suspect, Manoj Shyamnarayan Gaud, rented over 1,000 laptops claiming they were for his company's IT business. Cases have been registered against him in four areas of Mumbai, and the police believe he may be involved in more such cases. After months of investigations, Gaud was traced to Delhi and arrested. He has been handed over to the Shivaji Nagar police station in Mumbai.

Mumbai: A 40-year-old man has been arrested from Delhi for duping many companies to the tune of ₹10 crore by taking more than 1,000 laptops on rent and selling them to individuals in the city.

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Claiming that the laptops were for his company’s IT business, the accused, Manoj Shyamnarayan Gaud, 39, would rent each laptop for ₹1,500. Some of the companies bought new laptops and gave them on rent which he sold at market rates.

The latest case registered against Gaud was in Pant Nagar where he defrauded a businessman of ₹94 lakh by taking more than 40 new laptops on rent and sold them.

Cases are registered against Gaud in four areas: Shivaji Park, Andheri, Jogeshwari and Vanrai police station. The police said they believe that the suspect might be involved in more such cases.

After his spate of frauds, Gaud had shifted to Delhi. After several months of investigations, the Mumbai crime branch was able to trace him to Delhi, where he was arrested from in July and has been brought to Mumbai and has been handed over to Shivaji Nagar police station.

On July 20, in Pant Nagar police station, an FIR was registered against Gaud based on a complaint by Aditi Surve, 44, who runs a software firm in Ghatkopar and employs eight people.

One of her employees, Lakhan Dangi knew Gaud as they had worked together in a prominent electronic accessory supply company.

Through Dandgi, Gaud approached Surve claiming that he along with his wife, brother and a relative ran an IT firm in Jogeshwari. Gaud introduced his relative, Vinod Gaud.

After submitting relevant documents, Gaud took 25 laptops on rent from Surve between August 2022 and December 2022.

Gaud also bought laptops, monitors and other electronic devices totaling ₹93.54 lakh from Surve, and he paid only a part of the amount. More than ₹20 lakh was not paid and when Surve contacted Gaud, she found his phone number was not available. Surve then approached Pant Nagar police.

Another victim, Rupali Bariya, 40, who is a partner in the business of renting laptops and has an office in Dadar West, claimed that Gaud had taken 238 laptops on rent from her between June 2022 and October 2022.

The total rent amount was ₹29 lakh and Gaud had paid only ₹14 lakh and later, he fled without returning the laptops, He duped Bariya to the tune of ₹84.21 lakh.

Bariya approached Shivaji Park police and registered a cheating case against Gaud on January 16, said senior police inspector R Uttekar of the Shivaji Park police station.

A similar case was registered against Gaud on January 14, 2022, when he duped a businessman of ₹12.75 lakh after taking 85 laptops on rent.

After two cheating cases were registered against Gaud, the Mumbai crime branch started investigations and found that he had duped several companies.

Another FIR was registered against Gaud in Jogeshwari on January 30, where he had duped a businessman of ₹10.71 lakh by taking 36 laptops on rent.

The fourth case was registered in April, after Gaud took 75 laptops on rent from and committed a fraud of ₹35 lakh, said inspector Ghanshyam Nair of the Mumbai crime branch unit 5.

“After working for several months, we learnt that the accused had shifted to Delhi along with his entire family,” said Nair. “Around 50 people connected to him were questioned and several CDRs were scrutinised and finally, he was arrested in July from Delhi.”

Nair said, “He was brought to Mumbai and was handed over to the Shivaji Park police for legal process. Gaud is currently in the custody of Jogeshwari police station for investigation. Andheri and Pant Nagar police will take his custody in the future.”

After completing his post-graduation in science, Gaud did several IT courses. He then worked in a prominent electronic accessories supply firm for a few years before starting his own business.

He has an office in Andheri where more than 10 people are working in his firm. During the lockdown, he suffered losses, and decided to take laptops for rent for his office purposes but started selling them to individuals, said Nair.

It appears that he sold more than 1,000 rental laptops to people, added Nair.