Mumbai Crime: City cops nab Jharkhand man who duped financing firm of Rs 1.53 crore

Chairman of an educational institution took loan claiming to fund students’ fees, laptop and other study material, but provided nothing and defaulted on EMIs, too

The MIDC police on Tuesday arrested the chairman of an educational institution from Ranchi in Jharkhand for misappropriation of funds and cheating a non-banking finance company in Mumbai by securing an educational loan of R1.53 crore for 116 students.

Police said the complaint was filed by Pandurang Tukaram Kate, 33, an employee of Eduvanz Finance Ltd. The accused has been identified as Ranveer Kumar, the chairman of Basic Fast Pvt Ltd. Kate approached the MIDC police after students told Eduvanz Finance that Basic Fast had not provided them with any money for fees or laptop, study material, etc.

In his complaint, Kate told the police that Kumar contacted them in April 2021, saying that his company provides different courses for students in Ranchi. He had requested for a loan of R1.53 crore for 116 students so that their fees and laptop and other study material could be provided to them because they were not in a position to pay for them.

“The entire contract was online where Basic Fast agreed that if the EMIs by the students were not paid, they would take the entire responsibility of the repayment of the loan amount. Each student was to get a laptop and an amount to pay the fees of R1.38 lakh,” said Kate.

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Kate added that after the contract was drafted and Basic Fast sent them the KYC documents of all the 116 students and after the verification was done, Eduvanz Finance deposited R1.53 crore in the account of Basic Fast in April 2021.

In November 2021, the new batch of students was enrolled with Basic Fast. However, after waiting for three months about the non-payment of EMIs, Kate began contacting the students, “Some students told us that they had not received any study material or laptop from Basic Fast. Many students also told us that they had gone to enquire about the courses when their documents were taken by the management,” said Kate, a resident of Airoli who has been working with Eduvanz Finance since 2018.

“Based on the statements of the students, we confronted Kumar who assured us that he would repay the amount. However, we then approached the MIDC police and submitted a written application,” said Kate, whose office is at Times Square in Andheri-Kurla Road.

The MIDC police said they registered a case of cheating against Kumar under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code. “Based on the complaint, we arrested Kumar on Tuesday,” said an officer from MIDC police station.  

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