Couple from Malwani in Mumbai lures people to invest in Mhada flats at the promise of handsome monthly rents; crime branch arrests husband, wife absconding
Mehmood Akhtar Shaikh and his wife Afsana duped their neighbour Mohammad Mohsin Khan (extreme R), who is the complainant in the case, and several others
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Mumbai crime branch unit XI late on Wednesday arrested a 39-year-old real estate agent, who along with his wife duped more than 50 investors of around Rs 70 lakh in all by convincing them to invest in three Mhada rooms, that he claimed to be his, on the promise of providing them good monthly rents.
Police sources said the accused has been identified as Mehmood Akhtar Shaikh. He was nabbed late at night from Nalasopara after officers laid a trap based on the complaint filed and handed him over to the Malwani police. His wife Afsana was allowed to go, owing to the SC guideline that women can not be arrested at night. She is absconding with the police on the lookout for her.
Modus operandi
“As he was a realty agent with a good name in the market, he had easy access to a number of societies and empty tenements. He would win the victims’ trust by posing as the owner of the properties he would show them and the person residing in a particular flat is his tenant,” said victim and complainant Mohammad Mohsin Khan (39), a WR motorman and the accused’s neighbour.
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Khan allegedly invested R12 lakh between 2014 and 2015 in three rooms that Shaikh claimed were his, which the latter gave out on rent later. “For six months, Shaikh regularly gave me the rent and on time too. When the money didn’t come in the seventh month, I asked him about it. He gave me some personal financial constraints excuse, and that kept on happening,” he added.
Out in open
Khan said he realised Shaikh had cheated him when he saw a number of people starting to come to his house, with all of them having the same grievance.
“One day, he locked his house and escaped with his family,” said Khan, adding that in January, he then approached the Malwani police. Initially, they refused to register an FIR, he said, but after approaching a few senior officers, the complaint was filed.
“The investigation was very slow. Hence, I and others approached the crime branch.”
Shaikh and his family had been hiding in Nalasopara, where the couple was carrying out the same con.
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“API Manohar Harpude, constable Santosh Desai and a friend of mine posed as customers and met him. When he was with them doing the paperwork, crime branch officials swooped in and arrested him,” added Khan.
In custody
An officer from Malwani police station said, “We have arrested Mehmood Shaikh under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced in court tomorrow (Friday).”
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