Navi Mumbai: Diwali bonus for staff costs Gujarat man Rs 3.5 crore

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The CBD Belapur police have booked over half a dozen people for allegedly cheating a road constructor from Gujarat, who wanted new currency notes that he planned to distribute as Diwali bonus to his employees. The constructor had travelled to Navi Mumbai in September to exchange his old notes for new ones. The fraudsters claimed that they had good relations with the RBI bank officials and duped him of Rs 3.5 crore.

The complainant, Babu Jayeshsingh Thakur, 45, is based out of Vapi, Gujarat and has a staff of 200 men working under him. Every year on Diwali, Thakur gives his employees a salary and a bonus. Since the last few years, his associate Ajay Mishra was helping him get new currency notes. In August, Thakur contacted Mishra, who in turn put him in touch with two other men, one of whom introduced himself as Vishal Viroja.

Mishra claimed that Viroja had a friend in the RBI treasury who could help exchange notes in return for a three per cent commission. Viroja told Thakur that the RBI official would only undertake the task, if there was a minimum amount of R10 crore involved. When Thakur said that he just had R3.5 crore on him, Viroja said he'd try and work things out as he had to exchange Rs 1.5 crore as well. He told him he'd facilitate a meeting if he came to Navi Mumbai.

Also Read: Mumbai Crime: Bandra woman loses Rs 8.5 lakh over free thali

The modus operandi

In his complaint, Thakur said that he and a friend went to Navi Mumbai on September 6. The duo had checked into a hotel, where a person named Moin Qadri met them and Viroja. Qadri said he knew the RBI treasurer, whom he identified as Sushil Kulkarni, and asked him to hand him over the money. Thakur insisted on meeting Kulkarni in person, and left for Gujarat the same day. On September 11, when he visited Navi Mumbai again, Qadri introduced Thakur to one Kulkarni, who said that he'd get the job done. He also asked Thakur to be in touch with Qadri.

Thakur returned to Navi Mumbai on September 25, and met Kulkarni, along with Viroja, the following day in Belapur. Both of them handed over the cash to him. Kulkarni took the duo and Qadri in his car and headed towards the RBI office in Belapur. He stopped the car at a distance from the office, and asked them to wait till he generated a gate pass to enter. After a couple of hours, Kulkarni called them up, and said that a pick-up van, carrying new currency notes worth R5 crore, would arrive near the RBI gate. When the van arrived, Thakur demanded to check the cash, but Kulkarni told them not to open the bags in the van, as it was a high security zone and they could land into trouble. Qadri sat in the van, while Thakur and Viroja followed him, in another vehicle.

‘We've been duped'

According to the FIR, when they reached Taloja, an Innova intercepted the van and got hold of Qadri, and took away the van, too. Thakur and Viroja, who were watching the scene from a distance got scared and returned to their hotel in Vashi. A few hours later, they got a call from Qadri, who claimed he had been caught by the Crime Branch and that their cash had been seized. Thakur suggested Viroja to go to the Crime Branch office and get information on the raid, but Viroja refused.

The following day, Kulkarni met them near the RBI office, Fort and handed over R1 crore to Thakur. On the same day he was asked to return that R1 crore. On October 2, when Thakur rang up Kulkarni, he was asked to get another cheque of R1 crore, if he needed the rest of the money back. Sensing something amiss, he met up with Viroja, who told him that they'd been duped and that they'd have to wait longer to get the money. Since then, Viroja too has gone into hiding.

Thakur then lodged a complaint with the CBD Belapur police station against Viroja, Qadri, and Kulkarni. "We have registered an FIR against the fraudsters under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the search is on," said Anil Patil, senior inspector, CBD Belapur police station.