Talking about the modus operandi, an officer said that the duo lured victims by claiming they chartered vessels to big corporate houses
Photo for representational purpose
The Mumbai Police on Friday arrested a mother-daughter duo for allegedly duping an Andheri businessman of Rs 1.3 crore. The businessman had paid the duo, resident of Kalyan (West), for a tugboat and a barge vessel during the lockdown.
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According to a report in the Times of India, businessman Sushant Shelatkar (39), who is into shipping logistics, registered a case with the Andheri police station in October 2020 after he found that Raghini Khandelwal (52), and Mansi (22), had duped several people, including a politician, after showing them the same hull or outer body of the vessel.
"The mother-daughter duo has duped my husband and several others as well. They made over Rs 14 crore by selling the same hull to multiple people," Shelatkar's lawyer wife, Padma Shelatkar said. In his complaint, Shetalkar said that in June 2018, he had made an inquiry with a website about tugboat and barge manufacturers.
"Two days later I got a call from a person called Amir Khan. He told me Khandelwal, who was known to him, was in the business of building vessels," Sushant stated in the complaint.
In June 2020, Khan and Khandelwal called Shetalkar for a meeting. Shetalkar said that the Khandelwals claimed they were directors of Shree Tirupati Balaji company and owners of a shipyard at Ganesh Ghat in Kalyan. They also showed him a hull and said that they could build the vessels as per his requirements. Post this, the victim made the payment. However, he later realised he was conned.
Talking about the modus operandi, an officer said that the duo lured victims by claiming they chartered vessels to big corporate houses. They even assured the victims a monthly income of Rs 15 lakh. The duo also allegedly threatened Shetalkar as well as another victim, Ravi Jaising.
"My family business invested Rs 70 lakh after an agreement was signed in 2018. The duo did not even return my wife's Mercedes that they borrowed for a few days. They sent goons to my office and threatened me with dire consequences. I approached Khar police in 2019 but they did not act on my complaint saying it was a civil matter," Jaising said.
Shelatkar's wife Padma said that the Andheri police took action after they met home minister Anil Deshmukh.
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