Pune resident arrested for duping animal lovers of lakhs of rupees

MUMBAI: The Bolinj police on Monday arrested a man for allegedly duping several animal lovers of lakhs of rupees by luring them into investing in a fake animal birth control (ABC) centre

MUMBAI: The Bolinj police on Monday arrested a man for allegedly duping several animal lovers of lakhs of rupees by luring them into investing in a fake animal birth control (ABC) centre. The accused, identified as Harshvardhan Chaudhary, was arrested from Pune and brought to Mumbai. He has been remanded to police custody for five days.

Pune resident arrested for duping animal lovers of lakhs of rupees

According to police, multiple FIRs have also been registered against Chaudhary at the Parksite, Ghatkopar and Khar police stations in Mumbai.

Complainants said that Chaudhary has taken lakhs of rupees from the four complainants by producing fake tenders for the animal birth control centre. “He has been misleading people by sharing fake government tender copies and posting about ABC centre only to deceive them into believing that he is working for animal welfare. When we dug deeper, we found that no ABC tenders had been applied for, in any city by him or his accomplices,” a Virar resident, who has lost ₹12 lakh to the con told the police.

The Bolinj police said that Chaudhary had befriended animal lovers through social media since 2023 and lured them into contributing money for setting up an animal birth control centre to help stray animals. Persuaded by his claims, the victims transferred the money to the accused’s mother’s bank account.

“We have arrested Chaudhary and are investigating to find out how many people are involved in the fraud and also, the number of animal lovers he had cheated,” said a police officer from Bolinj police station.