Ex-official of Thane co-operative bank among three booked for duping flat buyers of over Rs 4 cr

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An official on Saturday said that the police have registered a case against three persons, including a developer and a former senior official of a Thane co-operative bank, in Maharashtra's Thane city for allegedly cheating 18 persons to the tune of over Rs 4 crore under the pretext of giving them flats, reported news agency PTI.

He said that the fraud took place between February 2017 and June 2024.

The accused were identified as Santosh Baburao Waghmare alias Tigerbhai, owner and partner of several construction firms, Vinayak Digambar Wakankar, former assistant general manager of the Thane co-operative bank and Jagdish Bhale, the then senior clerk in the bank, he added, reported PTI.

As per the complaint, Waghmare had promised to hand over flats to the victims in his projects and taken money from them. He, along with the other accused, later got loans sanctioned from the Thane co-operative bank by forging their signatures and indulged in a fraud to the tune of Rs 4,10,91,273, reported PTI.

Once the loan was sanctioned by the Thane co-operative bank, the money used to be deposited into the bank accounts of Waghmare's firms without the knowledge of the victims. As the accused failed to give them the flats, the victims realised that they had been cheated. One of the victims then approached the police and lodged the complaint, reported PTI.

Based on the complaint, the Rabodi police registered the case on Thursday under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465, 467 and 468 (all pertaining to forgery), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and others, the police said.

In another case, the police on Friday said that a 68-year-old tution teacher in Mumbai was allegedly cheated of more than Rs 8 lakh by a fraudster who befriended her on Facebook by posing as a pilot with an international airline, reported news agency PTI.

An official said that the Mumbai senior citizen lodged a complaint at Mahim police station on Thursday, reported PTI.

She received a friend request on Facebook from one 'Dev Patel' on May 12, as per her complaint, reported PTI.

She accepted it, and soon the two started chatting on phone with the man claiming that he was a pilot with British Airways, reported PTI.

A few days later, the man told her that he had sent her a gift.

On May 30, the complainant received a call. The Mumbai senior citizen on the other end, who identified herself as 'Dikshita Arora from Delhi Customs', said a parcel had arrived in her name from Dubai but she would have to deposit Rs 70,000 to get it, reported PTI.

The complainant immediately sent Rs 70,000 through UPI. Next she was told that there were 80 British pound sterlings inside the parcel, sent illegally, and she will have to pay another Rs 2.95 lakh or the "crime branch" will arrest her, reported PTI.

Frightened, the Mumbai senior citizen paid multiple times as threats kept coming. Between June 1 to 10, she transferred almost Rs 8.15 lakh before realising that this was a scam, the police official said, reported PTI.

The Facebook friend, who had posed as a pilot, had stopped responding to her calls and messages in the meanwhile.

A case of cheating under IPC section 420 was registered and probe was on, the official said.

(With inputs from PTI)