HOTELIER FROM BENGALURU WANTED LOAN, CHEATED OF ₹13L

NAVIMUMBAI: A 48-year-old Bengaluru-based hotelier was allegedlycheatedof₹12.8lakhafterhe sought a loan worth ₹6 crore for his business from a financial consulting firm in Vashi. The police booked three people on Friday in the case.

The complainant in the case, GovindRajM, toldthepolicethat hecameacrossthemainaccused in the case, Abhishek Tiwari, through his friend in May. Raj learnt that the accused owned a firm, Stagg Solutions, in Vashi’s Sector 30.

Raj and his friend discussed the loan application with Tiwari.

“On May 15, Tiwari met Raj at his office. The accused asked Raj to pay ₹5 lakh to process the loan. While Raj paid ₹2.5 lakh immediately through an online transaction, the rest of the amount was paid two days later. Tiwari then inspected the property in BengaluruwhichRajdecidedtokeepas collateral against the loan and charged the hotelier ₹30,000 as inspection charges,” said an officer privy to the investigations.

Some days later, Tiwari called Raj and his friend for a meeting withafinanciernamedJogendra Pratap Singh in a Pune hotel. During the meeting, Singh told Raj that he needed to pay ₹7.5 lakh as processing fee for the loan, as the loan amount was huge.

RajpaidtheamountonMay27 and visited Pune the next day to sign the additional documents. Tiwari and Singh told him that the registration for the loan will be completed on June 11, said the police. The duo also told Raj that they will have another meeting between June 25 and 28.

However, Tiwari began to avoid Raj’s calls after their meeting and later sent him a message stating that he had met with an accident and is in the hospital. Days later, when he failed to get any response from Tiwari, Raj approached the police.

“The hotelier submitted an application against Tiwari, Singh and his private assistant Meghna Joshi. Our preliminary inquiry revealed that there was a cognisable offence. We booked the three for cheating,” said another police officer.

The police said they will issue summons to the three accused. The police is also trying to establish if the accused have cheated others using the same modus operandi.

THANE: As hundreds of devotees gathered at Upvan lake in Thane for Chhath Puja, some of them started a signature campaign seeking permission to use the lake to perform puja.

ThaneMunicipalCorporation (TMC) had built an artificial lake, but the devotees said it was too small for the huge gathering.

While one group performed puja in the artificial lake, another group of devotees insisted on performing using the Upvan lake. “The artificial lake has a capacity for only 150 to 200 people. We need more space to perform puja and we requested the authorities to allow us to use Upvan lake,” said Sukhchand Pathak, organiser, Chhath Puja Sanstha.

Dhananjay Singh, a volunteer from Rudra Prathishthan, one of the Chhath puja organising groups, said, “For the first time in many years, the authorities madeallprovisionsandarrangements for devotees. We conducted a signature campaign so that the authorities know the number of devotees and accordingly provide facilities next year.”

In Durgadi Ganesh Ghat, devotees were not allowed to step into the water. Some got inflatable water tubs and women dipped their feet in the tubs and completed the rituals. “The reason one visits water body and

ACCUSED TOLD THE HOTELIER THAT HE NEEDED TO PAY ₹7.5L PROCESSING FEE FOR THE LOAN, AS THE AMOUNT WAS HUGE

› The artificial lake has a capacity for only 150 to 200 people. SUKHCHAND PATHAK, organiser, Chhath Puja Sanstha.

performs puja of the setting sun is as per rituals one’s feet should be in water during rituals. Hence, we arranged for the tub,” said Aarti Tiwari, 34, resident of Bail Bazar, Kalyan.

A live orchestra played on stage and the beats of the traditional instruments added to the pujaatKalyan’sDurgadiGanesh Ghat.