Moneylender dupes loanee, sells mortgaged shop worth ₹4.6 crore on the sly

A jeweller in Mumbai was allegedly duped by a moneylender who extracted ₹1.28 crore from him against a loan of ₹90 lakh and then sold off his mortgaged jewellery shop worth ₹4.60 crore without his knowledge. The moneylender has been booked for cheating and forgery.

Mumbai: A 60-year-old Chembur-based jeweller was allegedly duped by a moneylender who extracted ₹1.28 crore from him against a loan of ₹90 lakh and then sold off his mortgaged jewellery shop worth ₹4.60 crore on the sly.

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The jeweller Punamchand Sharma lives in Agrawal Colony in Chembur along with his family, while the moneylender Ashwin Jain runs an electronic shop. Jain loaned money to people on interest regularly and Sharma had taken loans from him and repaid them in the past, said a police officer.

In his complaint to the police, Sharma claimed that he borrowed ₹90 lakh from one Ashwin Jain in March 2020 on 1% interest for 8 months, as his business was not doing well. Sharma mortgaged the original documents of his jewellery shop to avail the loan and made an affidavit on a ₹100 stamp paper saying when he returned the money, Jain would return his original documents.

Sharma planned to return the money to Jain by selling some land in his native place, but he was unable to do so in time due to a slump in the real estate market during the pandemic, he wrote in the complaint. In July 2021, after Sharma managed to sell the land and went to repay Jain, he asked for 2% interest and demanded a total ₹1.28 lakh from the jeweller, failing which he threatened to take possession of his shop.

Scared, Sharma repaid ₹1.1 crore to Jain by means of gold jewellery, while the remaining amount of ₹17 lakh was paid in cash. But Jain did not return his original documents, claiming he would do so in a few days.

Sharma needed a lumpsum amount in June 2023 and decided to sell his jewellery shop, he wrote in the complaint. When Jain learned about this, he offered to buy the shop for ₹4.11 crore, which Sharma agreed to. Jain gave two cheques of ₹5 lakh each to Sharma after this, but cheques were in the name of Nitin Bharsakle. Jain claimed Bharsakle was financing him, but later, when Sharma confronted Bharsakle, he said he had bought jewellery worth ₹4.63 crore from Jain and had already repaid him ₹2 crore.

“During investigation, it was clear that Jain duped Sharma and sold his shop without his knowledge, “ said senior inspector Kedari Pawar of the RCF police station, where Jain has been booked to cheating, forgery and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.