Mother-daughter held for duping people over Rs 14 cr

A mother-daughter duo was arrested on Friday by Andheri Police for allegedly cheating people of crores of rupees in the pretext of investing in shares of shipyard or manufacture of heavy infrastructure vessels. The mother-daughter duo had duped several investors using the same modus operandi. They are the directors of a shipyard form in Kalyan.

According to police, they had received a complaint against two women, identified as Ragini Khandelwal and her daughter Mansi, the directors of Shree Tirupati Balaji Marine Enterprises Ltd and owner of a shipyard at Ganesh Ghat, Kalyan, had allegedly duped a number of investors of crores of rupees. Acting on this complaint, a probe was initiated, wherein police learnt that the modus operandi of the women was to ask businessmen to invest in ships, which could attract monthly returns in lakhs.

A source said that a case was lodged against the duo in October last year, who had collectively duped a number of people, including a politician, to the tune of Rs 14 crore. The mother-daughter duo had defrauded people by offering shares in the shipyard and collected money for manufacturing heavy infrastructure vessels. However, they never built the vessel and duped people.

A complaint regarding this matter was made to the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh. Subsequently, Andheri Police arrested the duo on Friday morning. They will be produced in the Bandra magistrate court on Saturday, said police.