Mumbai: Five held for cheating Malad-based angadiya of Rs 20 lakh

The five accused arrested in the case

Five members of a gang who allegedly cheated a Malad-based angadiya or courier of Rs 20 lakh have been arrested by the Dindoshi police. The police are on the lookout for the mastermind of the scam, who is hiding in Rajasthan, said a cop. As per police sources, the five men used to study the social media activities of an Indore-based garment trader, Ujwal Chandak, and his friend.

According to Chandak, who is the complainant, the accused called him via WhatsApp on December 20. The caller - whose WhatsApp profile's display photo was that of Chandak's friend - claimed to be the friend's son and stated that he was in urgent need of Rs 20 lakh. He also claimed that someone would repay the amount that evening itself.

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Falling for the ruse, Chandak called a trusted angadiya in Indore and asked him to tell his counterpart in Malad to hand over the amount to his ‘friend's son'. He also shared the contact number of the ‘son' with the angadiya. Later, one person came to the office of the Malad angadiya and took the money. But when nobody came to repay the amount, he called the accused. As, the latter's phone was switched off, he called Chandak and told him about what had occurred. The businessman too failed to get through to the accused.

Realising something was amiss, Chandak called his friend but was shocked to learn that no one from the latter's family had called him, the cop added. "We obtained the call detail record (CDR) of the number and finally caught the accused who took the amount from the Malad angadiya. Later, his associates were nabbed in Malad and Virar. Around R10 lakh has been recovered from them," the officer said.

The arrested accused have been identified as Vikram Kumawat, 23; Mukesh Kumawat, 28; Hasmukh Surana, 52; Mohanlal Kumawat, 32; and Vikram Surana, 47. Another police officer said, "We have sent a team to nab the mastermind. The arrested accused were produced before the court and have been remanded in police custody. Looking at their modus operandi, we suspect that this gang has duped many people in various states."

1,000k
The amount recovered from the gang in rupees