Bizman loses ₹29L worth Chinese grapes

NAVI MUMBAI: A fruit importer from Andhra Pradesh was cheated of 21,539 kgs of Chinese grapes worth ₹29 lakh by two agents and a businessman. The manager of the storage facility has also been booked.

Sidiri Narsimharai, 65, runs a fruits import company, in Andhra Pradesh. In October, his business acquaintance named Chidambaram introduced Narsimharai to an agent named Kasim. Chidambaram told Narsimharai that Kasim works at APMC market in NaviMumbai. SinceNarsimharaiwasplanning to import grapes, the duo promised him that Kasim can help sell the grapes at profitable rates.

Narsimharai ordered 24,277 kg of Chinese grapes worth ₹30 lakh from China. He stored them at ‘Unik Petals Cold Storage’ in MAFCO market. Kasim and Govind, a fruit seller, made an offer to Narsimharai to sell the grapes at ₹600 a kg. Unhappy with the price, Narsimharai turned down the offer.

“On October 29, Narsimharai called Jitu, the storage manager, and asked him to sell 160 out of 3,237 crates to retail fruit sellers. Later, Jitu told him that Kasim andGovindtook 600crates,” said an officer from APMC police station. When Narsimharai confronted the duo and they promised to pay him for 600 crates.

He later learnt that Kasim and Govind had sold another 2,077 crates. On November 13, when Narsimharai went to the facility, he learnt that the remaining 1,000 crates too were gone.

“ThemainaccusedKasimand Govind claimed that they gave the money Chidambaram. The importer has alleged that the manager in connivance with the duo and Chidambaram cheated him,” said the officer.

The APMC police have registered a case.