Mumbai: Actor's desire to buy second-hand Audi costs him Rs 2 lakh

The Audi car that he was supposed to buy

Actor Himanshu Soni was in for a rude shock when the Sion-based owner of an Audi car duped him of Rs 2 lakh on the promise of selling the vehicle to him.

Soni, who was not willing to buy a new car, decided to purchase a second hand one. Hence, he started going through the pictures of a couple of cars posted by owners on OLX and finally decided on one. When he contacted the car owner identified as Satish Kothawle and told him that he wanted to buy the vehicle, they decided to meet up. Satish then offered to visit Himanshu's residence at Amboli, so that he could test the car.

Himanshu Soni

Money transferred
The following day, Satish took the car to Himanshu's place. A mechanic, whom the actor had called, tested the vehicle and later Himanshu decided on buying it. Satish also told him that the car had travelled 65,000 km and had no defect. "He asked me to deposit an initial amount of Rs 2 lakh in his account, or else he would sell off the car to someone else. Hence, I immediately transferred the money to his account and sealed the deal," said Himanshu.

Lie revealed
The following day, Himanshu visited an Audi service centre just to be sure about the condition of the car. To his surprise he came to know that the car had travelled more than 1 lakh kilometre. He immediately called up Satish and refused to continue with the deal. When he asked him to return the money, Satish refused.

"I called him up a number of times but he did not respond. When I called him from a different number, he received it. However, even then he refused to give back the money. Thereafter, I registered a police complaint in the matter."

Inquiry on
Speaking to mid-day, an officer from Amboli police station said, "We have started an inquiry in the matter and have recorded Himanshu's statements. Satish has also been called for questioning."