Navi Mumbai: Diwali bonus for staff costs Gujarat man Rs 3.5 crore

The CBD Belapur police have booked over half a dozen people for allegedly cheating a road constructor from Gujarat who wanted new currency notes that he planned to distribute as Diwali bonus to his employees The constructor had travelled to Navi Mumbai in September to exchange his old notes for new ones The fraudsters claimed that they had good relations with the RBI bank officials and duped him of Rs 35 croreThe complainant Babu Jayeshsingh Thakur 45 is based out of Vapi Gujarat and has a staff of 200 men working under him Every year on Diwali Thakur gives his employees a salary and a bonus Since the last few years his associate Ajay Mishra was helping him get new currency notes In August Thakur contacted Mishra who in turn put him in touch with two other men one of whom introduced himself as Vishal VirojaMishra claimed that Viroja had a friend in the RBI treasury who could help exchange notes in return for a three per cent commission Viroja told Thakur that the RBI official would only undertake the task if there was a minimum amount of R10 crore involved When Thakur said that he just had R35 crore on him Viroja said hersquod try and work things out as he had to exchange Rs 15 crore as well He told him hersquod facilitate a meeting if he came to Navi MumbaiAlso Read Mumbai Crime Bandra woman loses Rs 85 lakh over free thaliThe modus operandiIn his complaint Thakur said that he and a friend went to Navi Mumbai on September 6 The duo had checked into a hotel where a person named Moin Qadri met them and Viroja Qadri said he knew the RBI treasurer whom he identified as Sushil Kulkarni and asked him to hand him over the money Thakur insisted on meeting Kulkarni in person and left for Gujarat the same day On September 11 when he visited Navi Mumbai again Qadri introduced Thakur to one Kulkarni who said that hersquod get the job done He also asked Thakur to be in touch with QadriThakur returned to Navi Mumbai on September 25 and met Kulkarni along with Viroja the following day in Belapur Both of them handed over the cash to him Kulkarni took the duo and Qadri in his car and headed towards the RBI office in Belapur He stopped the car at a distance from the office and asked them to wait till he generated a gate pass to enter After a couple of hours Kulkarni called them up and said that a pickup van carrying new currency notes worth R5 crore would arrive near the RBI gate When the van arrived Thakur demanded to check the cash but Kulkarni told them not to open the bags in the van as it was a high security zone and they could land into trouble Qadri sat in the van while Thakur and Viroja followed him in another vehiclelsquoWersquove been dupedrsquoAccording to the FIR when they reached Taloja an Innova intercepted the van and got hold of Qadri and took away the van too Thakur and Viroja who were watching the scene from a distance got scared and returned to their hotel in Vashi A few hours later they got a call from Qadri who claimed he had been caught by the Crime Branch and that their cash had been seized Thakur suggested Viroja to go to the Crime Branch office and get information on the raid but Viroja refusedThe following day Kulkarni met them near the RBI office Fort and handed over R1 crore to Thakur On the same day he was asked to return that R1 crore On October 2 when Thakur rang up Kulkarni he was asked to get another cheque of R1 crore if he needed the rest of the money back Sensing something amiss he met up with Viroja who told him that theyrsquod been duped and that theyrsquod have to wait longer to get the money Since then Viroja too has gone into hidingThakur then lodged a complaint with the CBD Belapur police station against Viroja Qadri and Kulkarni ldquoWe have registered an FIR against the fraudsters under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the search is onrdquo said Anil Patil senior inspector CBD Belapur police station