Maharashtra: Two women among four booked for duping people by luring them to invest in car rental firm

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The Thane Police in Maharashtra registered a case against four persons, including two women, for allegedly duping 30 people of more than Rs 52 lakh by luring them into investing in their car rental firm, and obtaining loan using the names of some others, an official said on Thursday, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the case was filed at the APMC police station in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday, he said.

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The accused were booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 34 (common intention).

Since June 2022, they targeted approximately 30 persons, promising them high returns on investment into their car rental venture. The victims collectively handed over Rs 52,43,000 with the expectation of acquiring cars for their business. However, the accused failed to deliver any vehicle, the complaint said, as per the PTI.

The accused also managed to get documents for obtaining loans in the names of 12 other individuals apparently for the purchase of electric scooters. However, they misappropriated the loan amount, the official said.

Meanwhile, in an another incident, a businessman from Nagpur was duped of Rs 2.48 crore by a group of persons who promised him good returns on investment in the stock market, a police official said on Thursday, according to the news agency.

Moti Dularamani (76), a former wholesaler of food essence, had seen an advertisement on Facebook promising 15-20 per cent returns on investment and responded, the Dhantoli police station official said.

"Between November 11 last year and January 8 this year, Dularamani invested Rs 2.75 crore, of which an amount of Rs 26 lakh was transferred into a demat account just to get the victim's confidence," he said, as per the PTI.

Based on the evasive replies of the accused on the Whatsapp group that was used to communicate about investments and returns, Dularamani realised he had been duped, the official said.

The cyber police registered a case of cheating and other offences under Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act and efforts were on to solve the case, the official added.

(with PTI inputs)