₹12-cr octroi fraud: Mastermind, 46, arrested after 7 yrs

MUMBAI: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the city police on Monday, arrested a 46-year-old owner of a logistics company for cheating an import-export firm of ₹12 crore using fake octroi receipts. Hanumant Dhavare, who had been on the run for seven years, is the 11th accused arrested in the case, which was registered in 2012.

Dhavare, who was arrested in Thane after a tip-off received by the EOW, is the mastermind of the fraud, said officers. Along with 10 others, he defrauded the victim by giving him fake octroi receipts for transport of some imported electronic items.

According to officers, Dhavare, the owner of the Kadambari Enterprises and Kimaya Forwards, a transport firm, had a contract with Kurla-based Reddington Private Limited to transport imported electronic gadgets and accessories from a cargo hub to retail outlets. Dhavare outsourced the work to companies such as Kaizan Logistics and Krishna Cargo Transports. In 2012, Sanjay Shah, regional manager of Reddington, was approached by civic officials for defaulting on octroi duty. “Shah, who had the octroi receipts given to him by Dhavare, presented them. The officials found that the receipts were forged,” said an EOW officer. Shah then told the officials that he had paid the money for octroi to Dhavare and the other transport company owners, and had got the receipts from them. Shah then approached the EOW and a case was registered