2 held for duping woman in Rs1 cr deal

Delhi Police have arrested a businessman and the associate vice-president of CitiFinancial Consumer Finance, a subsidiary of Citibank, for cheating a woman, Nirmala Modi, of over Rs1 crore. The two have been identified as Tony Thomas and Mukul Bhimani.

Delhi Police have arrested a businessman and the associate vice-president of CitiFinancial Consumer Finance, a subsidiary of Citibank, for cheating a woman, Nirmala Modi, of over Rs1 crore. The two have been identified as Tony Thomas and Mukul Bhimani.

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"Thomas had told her that he had taken a loan from CitiFinancial against the Gurgaon property and that he would repay the loan once he received her payment after its sale," Chhaya Sharma, DCP (south) said.

When the deal was finalised in March, Thomas handed over her a 'No Dues Certificate', issued by CitiFinancial. Later, Modi came to know that Rs 1.17 crore was still outstanding against the property. "Bhimani had helped Thomas forge the NOC," a senior police officer said.

"The police arrested Thomas from Jamshedpur. At his instance, Bhimani was also arrested," Sharma added. HT's emails to CitiFinancial regarding the case went answered.

A statement issued on Dec 17 night by citi said, "Tony Thomas, a customer of CitiFinancial, has availed a mortgage loan and been delinquent on his loan repayments. CitiFinancial reiterates that it has not issued any NOC with regard to the mortgaged property. We have been informed that Mukul Bhimani, an employee of CitiFinancial has colluded with Tony Thomas. The employee has been suspended, pending investigations. We are keen that the guilty are brought to book. We are fully cooperating with the law enforcement authorities in this regard".