Punjab Sind Dairy owner tries to buy imported bike, duped of ₹17 lakh

Punjab Sind Dairy owner allegedly cheated of ?17 lakh while trying to buy an imported motorcycle; Khar police book three people, including the owner of the motorcycle.

MUMBAI: The owner of Punjab Sind Dairy has been allegedly cheated of ₹17 lakh, while trying to buy an imported motorcycle.

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Based on his complaint, the Khar police on Tuesday night booked three people, including the owner of the motorcycle.

Swaranjit Singh Bajaj told the police that though he had paid the entire amount to buy a secondhand Honda F6 bike in July 2020, he did not get the vehicle till date.

Bajaj, a Khar resident, is known for being a bike and car enthusiast, having around 15 imported motorcycles in his collection. He often posts about these vehicles on social media where he has a considerable following.

In his complaint, Bajaj said that he was approached by a Thane-based mechanic Maqsood Alam Sheikh on social media in July 2020. “Sheikh said that a secondhand Honda F6 bike was up for sale. I told him to bring the bike to Khar, so that I could inspect it. Sheikh came along with another person (Naved Pathan), whom he introduced as his business partner,” Bajaj said.

The complainant said that Sheikh was known to one of his friends as someone who dealt in imported motorcycles routinely. This made Bajaj confident of the deal, he said.

After a test ride, Bajaj asked the duo to transfer the motorcycle to his name at Andheri RTO.

“I also checked the RC (registration certificate) book of the vehicle. It said the bike was owned by a New Delhi resident, Prince Pathak. I paid the amount they quoted upfront and the two men handed over all the documents of the bike, including sales invoice and custom documents,” the complainant told the police.

Sheikh was supposed to hand over the bike to Bajaj after transfer of its ownership. When this did not happen even after a few weeks, the complainant called the accused who said work at the RTO was slowed down due to the Covid pandemic.

“Since Sheikh was not following through, I asked an RTO agent to look for someone in New Delhi who could initiate the process. As part of the process, Prince Pathak was required to acknowledge the sale. Instead, he blocked the transfer,” Bajaj said.

In November 2022, Bajaj said he was summoned by the Delhi police about the ownership of the bike. He responded to them through his lawyers, telling them his side of the story. Last month, the Delhi police again wrote to him asking for details about the transaction and the dealer from whom the complainant had bought the vehicle.

Bajaj got to know that Pathak had imported the bike into India through illegal means after which he approached the police and filed a cheating case against Pathak and the two dealers. The three men have been booked for fraud and further investigation in the case is underway.