Ulwe couple promises man milk stall, cheats him of ₹4.5 lakh

NAVI MUMBAI: The Vashi police havebookedamanwhoposedas a Mantralaya employee and cheated a Kurla resident of ₹4.5 lakh while promising to set up a milk stall by putting up advertisementonawebsite.Theman’s wife was also booked for her role in the crime.

The complainant, Sachin Salap, and his friend had approached Ashwini Upadhyay after seeing the advertisement and thought of opening a milk stall in June.

Ashwini introduced her husband Dev as a Mantralaya worker. Dev claimed that he is handles the setting up of milk stalls across Navi Mumbai. The meeting took place at the couple’s Ulwe residence where Ashwini also showed Salap a list of 72 places where they could set up the stalls.

When Salap asked her if Dev can help him buy a stall for Shivaji Park in Dadar, Dev visited the spot to inspect the plot and agreed. He asked for ₹10 lakh, half of which were to be paid to him directly. The remaining ₹5 lakh was to be issued via Mudra loan in Salap’s name.

Salap paid ₹4 lakh to Dev in instalments after which he gave him a letter from a Khopoli branch milk manager of the government’s milk scheme. The letter said the stall can be given after settlement of terms, said police. Salap also introduced his sister to Dev and paid ₹50,000 for a stall in her name in June. On July 16, when Salap tried to contact Dev, he found his number switched off.

When the calls went unanswered, Salap approached officialsatgovernmentmilkscheme in Belapur CBD. He learnt that the papers made him eligible to setupstallsonlyinNaviMumbai and not in Mumbai. The stalls can only be set up after getting clearance from the municipal corporation and Maharashtra State Electricity Board.

When he went to Dev’s Ulwe house, he found the apartment locked. He learnt that several others have been cheated by him. “The main accused works in a private company and had claimed to be a Mantralaya employee. We are investigating into the complainant’s allegations that several others have been cheated,” said Anil Deshmukh, senior inspector at Vashi police station. The police have booked the couple on charges of cheating.

NAVI MUMBAI Even as the Navi Mumbai police have marginally managed to reduce instances of chain snatchings in the region, the detection rate of the cases dipped to 8.9% this year.

The police recorded 81 cases till September this year, out of which, only 11 cases have been solved.

Last year in the same period, the Navi Mumbai police had registered 107 cases of chain snatchings and solved 82 of them with a detection rate of 87.7%.

Local police officers claimed that cases have reduced because of intensive policing this year.

“We have increased visible policing in chain-snatching prone areas during early morning and late evening hours when the suspects are likely to target people taking advantage of low footfall,” said Sanjeev Dhumal, inspector at Vashi police station.

In Vashi, chain snatchers enter from Govandi and Mankhurd slums.

After the police learnt that Vashi bridge was as the mostused entry and exit point for robbers, the police set up checkpoints near the Vashi toll booth.

Pankaj Dahane, deputy commissioner of police, zone I, said the efforts have resulted in bringing down incidents of chain-snatchings.

Areas such as Vashi, Nerul, Turbhe, Airoli and Kharghar areas have registered the most number of such crimes.

“Apart from increasing our patrolling frequency on streets, we have also strengthened our checkpoints in Mumbai and