Con man who duped 70 people with promise of cheap flats held

The Agripada police have arrested a 52-year-old con man who had skipped sessions court hearings and was absconding after he got convicted for duping 70 investors of money by promising them cheap flats in Navi Mumbai.

The victims include three police constables, who filed the complaint against him.

A team of police officials from Agripada police station tracked down the con artist, Avinash Suresh Raskar, with help of their informers and arrested him from his hideout in Mulund on Thursday.

Raskar was arrested in 2015 by the Kamothe police for allegedly duping several investors, including three police officials, by promising them flats in Navi Mumbai at ₹20 lakh per flat.

They then handed over Raskar to the Shivaji Park police as the case against him was registered there by the constables.

While Raskar was out on bail, the case against him continued, though he stopped appearing for the later hearings.

He was then pronounced guilty and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. Following this, the court declared him absconding and instructed the Mumbai police to arrest him.

After two months of tracking him, the Agripada police arrested him from a flat at Chheda Nagar in Mulund. He had a packed emergency bag in the house with his essentials so that he could flee immediately if needed, officials said.

“We have arrested Raskar,” confirmed Sawalaram Agavane, senior police inspector of Agripada police station.

The three constables — Sunil Kadu and Prakash Patil from the local arms unit, and Rajendra Kumar Patil from Juhu police station — had visited a property exhibition in January 2013, where they came across a stall set up by Raskar’s Morya Tech Infra Private Ltd, which offered flats in Khandeshwar, Navi Mumbai, at a throwaway price of ₹20 lakh. The three were among the 70 people who made down payments and were promised possession by May 2014.

However, when he failed to give possession, the constables approached Shivaji Park police station.

MUMBAI: AVINASH SURESH RASKAR DUPED SEVERAL INVESTORS BY PROMISING THEM FLATS IN NAVI MUMBAI AT ₹20 LAKH PER FLAT