Mumbai Crime: One held in Rs 5 crore fraud case; kingpin wanted

After a year and a half of intense investigation the Oshiwara police finally arrested one member of a gang that ran a wellorganised racket of financial fraud The gang primarily used two modus operandi to cheat people overvaluation of properties to obtain higher loans and double financing of a property both by forging property documents in connivance with realty evaluators and financersAccused Ravindra Gambhir 40 was arrested from Kandivli for cheating to the tune of Rs 5 crore while the gangs kingpin and other members are yet to be arrestedAlso ReadMumbai Crime NRI claims man arrested for extortion cheated her tooA case in this regard was registered in early 2018 by Sangeeta Sanjay Jhunjhunwala a resident of Lokhandwala who had taken a loan of Rs 294 crore from the Manish Nagar branch of Dena Bank against her two flats in Rushi Tower of LokhandwalaAfter paying a few EMIs she decided to sell her flats said an officer Thats when Sangeetas husband Sanjay who runs a garment shop contacted one of his clients Rajesh Harishchandra Dahanukar a financer to seek his help in finding a prospective buyer Dahanukar cops said is the mastermind in this case and has gone underground ever since Jhunjhunwala registered a case at Oshiwara police stationAfter learning that Jhunjhunwala wants to sell her flats Dahanukar got his accomplice Rakesh Chakraborty to sign a sale agreement with Jhunjhunwala against the payment of some amount and the original documents of both flats were handed over to Chakraborty said the officer The flat was to remain in Jhunjhunwalas name till the Rs 294 crore loan was repaid by the new owners of the flatAlso ReadMumbai Crime Nigerian smuggler held with cocaine worth Rs 612 croreDahanukar and Chakraborty then contacted Powaibased financing company Fullerton India Credit Limited to apply for a mortgage loan of Rs 488 crore against forged documents of Jhunjhunwalas flatsThe financing company granted them a loan and issued a cheque of Rs 488 crore against the name of Sangeeta Jhunjhunwala The duo opened a bank account in Jhunjhunwalas name in a Borivli branch of UCO bank to deposit the cheque the officer addedVictims unawareDuring the investigation the Oshiwara police learnt that the amount was soon transferred to 12 different bank accounts with Gambhir being one of the beneficiariesThe Jhunjhunwala couple was unaware of this until Dena Bank issued them a notice for nonpayment of EMIs to return the mortgage loan of Rs 294 croreRs 5787 lakh was transferred to Gambhirs bank account We arrested him from Kandivli The investigation is at a nascent stage and we will soon send all the gang members behind bars said Shailesh Pasalwad senior inspector of Oshiwara police stationAlso ReadDrug haul busted in Delhi 5 held heroin worth Rs 600 crore seizedSources told midday that Dena Bank has auctioned both the Lokhandwala properties of Jhunjhunwala in 2018 to meet the losses they incurredAt present the Jhunjhunwala couple is living in a rented accommodation in Goregaon a source saidNot firsttime offendersChakrabortys anticipatory bail application has been rejected by the sessions court and he has approached the high court to get interim relief He has been booked for similar offences by the Bandra police stationDahanukar is a historysheeter against whom similar offences have been registered at Versova police station The Central Bureau of Investigation CBI too has booked Dahanukar in a demonetisationrelated caseDahanukar got his accomplice Rakesh Chakraborty to sign a sale agreement with Jhunjhunwala and the original documents of both flats were handed over to Chakraborty Dahanukar and Chakraborty then contacted Powaibased financing company Fullerton India Credit Limited to apply for a mortgage loan of R488 crore against forged documents of Jhunjhunwalas flats said a police officerRs 294 crore Amount of loan taken by JhunjhunwalaRs 5 crore Amount allegedly looted by Gambhir and gangRs 488 crore Amount of loan Dahanukar and Chakraborty applied for at Fullerton India Credit LimitedCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates