Nephew, two others dupe SoBo elderly couple of ₹44 lakh

As per the police, the accused are identified as Popat Ghorpade and his friends – Shrirang Toraskar and Suwarna Salunkhe. Ghorpade is the complainant’s nephew and would often visit her residence where they stay with their 43-year-old daughter.

Mumbai: A 63-year-old Girgaum resident filed a complaint on Friday against three people from Satara – including her nephew – for allegedly duping her and her husband of nearly ₹44 lakh.

The trio took money from the couple under the pretext of getting their daughter a job and selling plots in Satara. They gave bogus property documents to the couple. When their lies were caught, they refused to pay back and also threatened to kill the couple. (Image for representation)

As per the police, the accused are identified as Popat Ghorpade and his friends – Shrirang Toraskar and Suwarna Salunkhe. Ghorpade is the complainant’s nephew and would often visit her residence where they stay with their 43-year-old daughter.

The trio took money from the couple under the pretext of getting their daughter a job and selling plots in Satara. They gave bogus property documents to the couple. When their lies were caught, they refused to pay back and also threatened to kill the couple.

As per the complaint, between 2012 and 2014, Ghorapde had taken ₹8 lakh from the complainant’s husband under the pretext of getting their daughter a job. However, she never got any job and when the couple threatened to take legal action, he returned ₹6 lakh to them.

As per the FIR, in 2012, Ghorpade and Toraskar told the complainant’s husband that Salunkhe’s wife was suffering from heart disease and surgery was required. But Salunkhe didn’t have money for the surgery, and the two requested the couple to help. The couple gave Ghorpade ₹2 lakh.

After a few days, Ghorpade informed the couple that Sakunkhe was not in a condition to repay the borrowed money and needed more money for his wife’s treatment. Ghorpade told the couple that Salunkhe was willing to sell his land in Satara for ₹27 lakh to them.

The couple agreed to the deal and paid ₹19.15 lakh to Salunkhe via Ghorpade as they claimed that Salunkhe had no bank account.

“In 2018, Ghorpade informed the couple that Salunkhe passed away and asked them to pay the rest of the money to his wife Suwarna Salunkhe. The couple paid the balance amount of ₹5.75 lakh to her – this time by depositing the money in her bank account. But despite the payment, the land was not transferred in the name of the complainant couple’s daughter,” said a police officer.

Meanwhile, Ghorapde also requested the couple to buy another plot in Satara district for ₹8 lakh. This land belonged to Ghorpade’s friend Shrirang Toraskar. The couple paid the amount but Ghorapade with the help of staff at the Talathi office fraudulently got the land transferred in his name, the officer said.

“After the couple came to know about the fraud, they demanded the money back and when they rigorously followed the matters with Ghorpade and Toraskar, the duo refused to pay back any money and instead threatened to kill them if they kept on demanding the money,” the officer added.

The couple finally approached the VP Road police and lodged a complaint alleging that the trio had under various false pretexts fraudulently extracted a total amount of ₹44 lakh from them and handed them over bogus property documents and defrauded them.