Maharashtra cops bust gang cheating scrap merchants; 4 held

Police have arrested four persons after busting a gang allegedly involved in cheating scrap traders in Maharashtra and other places since 2017 officials saidThe police have recovered booty worth Rs 20 lakh from them and also seized 15 mobile phones and 10 ATM cards from their possession they saidOn October 28 the Mandvi police in Palghar district received a complaint from a scrap merchant belonging to Bhavnagar in Gujarat that he was cheated of Rs 2787 lakh by a person who told him that aluminium scrap material was available for sale at a company in Medhe village hereThe person called the trader to Medhe took him to the company showed him the stock and gave other relevant information to gain his confidence Assistant Commissioner of Police Virar Ramchandra Deshmukh saidAfter the stock was loaded in the truck the accused who was accompanied by two others asked the victim to make the payment following which the vehicle would be sent to the destinationWhen the victim made the payment of Rs 2787 lakh the accused told him the stock would be delivered once the money is credited to the companys accountThe accused then fled with the truck the official saidThe phone number of the accused was later found switched off and the victim could not contact himThe victim then lodged a police complaintAs a first step the police froze the bank account where the money was transferred the official saidAfter working on technical inputs the police traced the accused and his two associates to Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district and arrested them on MondayAn agent also allegedly involved in the crime tried to escape to Uttar Pradesh by boarding a MumbaiVaranasi train The police nabbed him from Nashik Road railway station on Tuesday the official saidOut of the four accused two are from Thane one is from Raigad and another person hails from GujaratDuring their interrogation the police learnt the four persons were involved in similar crimes in Navi Mumbai Raigad Dhule Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Delhi the official saidIn order to evade arrest the accused had been changing their names mobile phones and SIM cards another official saidThe police seized a car 15 mobile phones 10 ATM cards and other items like stamp pads Aadhaar and PAN cards from their possession and also recovered booty worth Rs 2002332 from them he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever