Mumbai crime: Conman who duped Chembur kolis nabbed from West Bengal

After being at large for almost four months, from the time he duped members of the Koli community in Chembur of seven kilograms of gold worth Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 45 lakh in cash, officials of the RCF police station recently arrested Uttam Malla from West Bengal.

Uttam Malla was arrested from his hometown in West Midnapore for cheating a few members of the Koli community residing in Chembur. File pics

Officials said Malla, who is believed to be in his mid-30s, would make ornaments and take money from fishermen to invest it in various gold schemes since 2008. He was arrested from his hometown in West Midnapore district and has been booked under sections 406 (breach of trust) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

Men at work
The police received a tip-off that Malla was hiding in West Bengal. Based on this information, a team was despatched to West Midnapore to arrest him. However, Malla and his family members managed to evade arrest on several occasions. They were eventually picked up by the RCF police team with the help of the Daspur police.

"We believe that the accused has sold the fishermens' gold in Kolkata. We want to recover as much as we can during the team's stay in West Bengal," said an official from the RCF police station. When contacted, Senior Inspector Dilip Yadav of the RCF police station refused to comment.u00a0