04 August,2014 07:57 AM IST | | Saurabh Vaktania
They would place orders for equipment and upon delivery, would refuse to pay for it; mother would threaten to lodge molestation case against supplier if he insisted on getting the payment
A family of three who have been conning various computer equipment providers across the city for at least three years has been nabbed. The V P Road police arrested the father and son on Saturday, while the mother is still absconding.
A police official identified the two arrested accused as Rajesh Nagsi Nisar (44) and his son, Purav Nisar (23). Their mother Smita is still at large. According to the police, the family has cheated several computer equipment dealers of at least R2 crore. More such cases are expected to emerge soon.
Their modus operandi was to tell firms that they owned a company in the Bombay Stock Exchange that provided computers to stock broking firms there. They would place orders of equipment worth lakhs of rupees and then refuse to pay for it. They would then disassemble the computer parts and sell them in the open market separately.
On November 10, 2011, a Navi Mumbai-based businessman, Santosh Pillai, got a call from Nisar asking for 111 assembled computers. He convinced Pillai that he provided equipment to big stockbrokers who needed computers in bulk. Pillai agreed to send the shipment in lieu of payment to be made in four instalments. The next week, he sent computers worth R4.15 lakh, but Nisar didn't release any payment.
Blackmail
Even after Pillai made several phone calls and requests, Nisar kept evading him. He then stopped receiving his phone calls altogether.
When Pillai managed to get through to the family, the wife, Smita, threatened to lodge a molestation case against the businessman if he didn't back off.
Pillai then approached the police and filed an FIR in 2012. The family has been wanted since then. On Saturday, police got a tip-off that the family would be on V P Road and arrested the father-son duo from there. Investigations revealed that the family was notorious for conning computer dealers and had, in all, duped firms of at least R2 crore.
Police said the trio has 4 cases in the Mazgaon court, three in Girgaum court, one in sessions and one in the Ballard Pier court, and several other cases. Police will take statements from all firms who have been cheated by the Nisars.
The duo was produced in local court and has been remanded to custody till Thursday.
