Mumbai: Investment banker duped of Rs 17.90 crore

Two conmen sold him a bunch of paintings by ‘famous artists’ at throwaway prices

The Tardeo police have booked two alleged accused for duping an investment banker of Rs 17.90 crore under the pretext of selling him paintings of famous artists. 

The matter came to light on December 18 when the investment banker, approached the police to register a complaint against two people.  According to the FIR, in January 2022, Punit Bhatia, 52, had met one of the alleged accused at a party and a friend introduced him to the accused saying he had “in depth knowledge of art”. 

After the party, the complainant and one of the accused developed a friendship and were constantly in contact with each other over phone calls and social media websites. They would discuss paintings and have conversations about paintings. 

The alleged accused then told Bhatia that he had paintings of famous artist Manjeet Bawa and said they were worth Rs 6 crore, he also claimed that the owner of the painting is an ex IAS Officer and she wanted to sell the painting for Rs 1 crore. The alleged accused also claimed that he had paintings of another artist Shree Suja.  He had also sent pictures of the paintings to the complainant to gain his trust. Bhatia paid the amount to the alleged accused.  

The accused, identified as Vishwang Desai and Rajesh Rajpal, delivered 11 paintings to the accused. However, when some of Bhatia’s friends saw the paintings they told him that they were fake. Bhatia then confirmed with the former IAS officer and then registered a complaint against the duo. They had been booked for cheating and under other relevant sections of the IPC. “We will soon seize those paintings and investigate the matter,” said Senior PI Vivek Shende of Tardeo police station.

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