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He gave fake visas to businessmen
The Kurla police are looking for a 48-year-old agent who allegedly cheated several small businessmen by issuing them photocopies of fake visas for London, Dubai and Jordan.
The Kurla police are looking for a 48-year-old agent who allegedly cheated several small businessmen by issuing them photocopies of fake visas for London, Dubai and Jordan.
The accused, Mohammed Ibrahim Sheikh, used to operate from his shop — Roshan Communications and Xerox Centre — at Belgami road in Kurla.
“We have booked Sheikh on charges of forgery and cheating. He had been operating since 2005. In 2008, he had cheated one Pappu Narayan of Rs 8 lakh by promising him a visa for London. It appears that there may be several more victims,” said Senior Inspector Vijay Bagwe of Kurla police station.
Sheikh had been arrested after Narayan filed a case last year. The case is pending with the Kurla metropolitan court and Sheikh is out on bail.
Last month Abdul Sheikh (48), Wahib Sheikh (47) and Zakir Hussain Ansari (38) lodged complaints against Sheikh.
While Abdul and Wahib, both residents of Bhiwandi, lodged their complaints on October 29, Zakir registered a first information report a day later.
The police suspect Sheikh, a resident of Ahmedabad and runs a shop there, has cheated several others.
The Kurla police said Sheikh took Rs 70,000 each from Abdul and Wahib, and Rs 1 lakh from Zakir between 2005 and 2006.
“When the victims approached Sheikh, he assured them that he would arrange for visas. Thereafter, he would hold some meetings with them to discuss the deal and ask them to pay in advance.”
Once the victims paid him for the visa, he would hand them over photocopies of the visas and demand more money for air tickets.
Then he would give them photocopies of the tickets and give them details of the flight and the day of the journey.
“When the victims reached the airport, he would call and inform them that the journey had been postponed for two days due to some untoward reasons,” said Jadhav.
When the complainants tried to contact Sheikh after two days, he would avoid them.
“After trying to contact Sheikh for years, the complainants have now approached the police,” he added.
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