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Mumbai Police arrest 3 for ₹4.95cr fraud in the name of Covid immunity powder
The Mumbai police arrested the three accused from various locations after tracking their mobile phones and following clues from the bank transactions they had made.
The Mumbai police arrested three men on Monday for cheating people of nearly ₹5 crores by making false promises to deliver Ayurveda powder and herbs to cure Covid -19 and boost immunity. Police said the arrested accused also claimed to have received assistance from Nigerian nationals Jerry Sunday and Edward for the fraud.
Mohammed Hussain Shaikh (51), Trijugilal Kurmi (43) and Salim Shaikh (39) used to rent flats, office spaces for two to three months and open bank accounts apart from obtaining some documents to make their ‘fake’ business look real, police said.
Their elaborate fraud came to light when one Nafis Khan lodged a complaint with the police alleging one woman named Archana Kumar introduced him to Shaikh claiming he could deliver the Ayurveda powder Khan was looking for. Shaikh asked Khan to transfer ₹1.39 lakhs to his account. Khan says he did not get any promised powder after making the payment.
The police arrested the three accused from various locations after tracking their mobile phones and following clues from the bank transactions they had made.
“The three had opened 16 accounts in various banks with the help of rent documents and cheated people to the tune of ₹4.95 crores. We have frozen the bank accounts containing ₹8.25 lakhs,” said an officer from Chembur police station.
On further investigation, the police learnt that the trio had also cheated people in Kolhapur and Solapur in Maharashtra apart from Karnataka, West Bengal, Haryana and Gujarat using similar modus operandi.
Police are looking for seven absconding accomplices of the three accused including three Nigerians, Archana Kumar and three others-- Venkatesh Nadar, Arizona Shaikh and Lalji, who are believed to have helped them in conning people in Mumbai and other states.
