₹3.5-cr cheating case transferred to crime branch in Navi Mumbai

NAVI MUMBAI: A month after a Gujarat-based businessman registered a complaint of being cheated of ₹3.5 crore with CBD Belapur police, the case has been transferred to Navi Mumbai crime branch.

The move came in after the complainant accused that the police themselves were involved in the racket. However, crime branch says that prima facie, no police involvement is established. Till now, one accused, identified as Vishal Viroja, has been arrested and ₹2 lakh recovered from him.

Babu Jayesh Singh Thakur (45), a road construction businessman wanted to give his employees Diwali bonus in new notes. He approached his friend Ajay Mishra, who introduced him to Viroja. Claiming that he had a friend working with the RBI treasury, Viroja told Thakur that he, too, needed to exchange old currency notes of ₹1.5 crore and offered to travel together to Navi Mumbai.

On September 26, Thakur and Viroja met one Moin Qadri, who introduced them to one Susheel Kulkarni, who posed as an RBI employee and took them near the RBI office in Belapur.

Kulkarni asked them to wait outside wherein a van would arrive with the new notes.

When Thakur demanded to check the notes, Kulkarni suggested to do it away from the spot. Qadri left towards Gujarat in the van, while Viroja and Thakur followed the van in the car. As they reached Taloja, an Innova intercepted the van and drove away with the money.

Thakur realised he was cheated when Qadri stopped responding to his calls.

According to an officer from the crime branch, the complainant had been alleging that some policemen were involved in the cheating racket and was not satisfied with the investigations and hence the commissioner directed that the case be transferred to the crime branch.