Two brothers dupe several on pretext of villa, resort booking

Mumbai: A man has been arrested on Sunday for allegedly duping several people on the pretext of booking villas, hotels and resorts for parties and vacations

Mumbai: A man has been arrested on Sunday for allegedly duping several people on the pretext of booking villas, hotels and resorts for parties and vacations. The police are on the lookout for his elder brother.

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According to the Dahisar police, the brothers have been identified as Akash Jadhvani and Avinash Jadhvani of Ghatkopar East.

The duo had created a website ‘Vistara stays and rentals’ and posted several photos of farm houses and resorts in and around Mumbai. They also posted advertisements on social media inviting bookings. After receiving and confirming the bookings, the brothers asked the victims to send money through online transactions. After receiving the payment, the brothers sent emails informing the targets that the villa or resort was not available and hence the booking was cancelled. Thereafter, they refused to pay back the booking amount.

The fraud came to light after a 32-year-old woman was duped of ₹1.2 lakh by the Jadhvani brothers in January. The woman told the police that she had booked a villa in Karjat for the new year eve and paid the amount online.

A few days later she received an email saying that the villa was closed for renovation and that her payment would be reversed. However, when she did not receive the money, she approached the police.

“We traced Akash and arrested him from Ghatkopar. However, his elder brother fled the spot,” Pravin Patil, senior police inspector, said.

The police are now checking how many more people the duo has cheated. “We are checking the bank accounts of the brothers to find out how much money they had cheated from people,” Patil added.