Vadodara: ‘100 crore ki aabadi wale desh mein agar badaa player bann na hain to risk bhi badaa lena padega’ (If you want to become a big player in a country of 100 crore, then you will have to take bigger risk). Mayur Valand, a resident of Halol, took this dialogue from the 2012 Bollywood flick ‘Players, a tad seriously.
On Wednesday, the Prevention of Crime Branch (PCB) arrested Valand for cheating more than 100 persons from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi by promising them jobs abroad. The police also nabbed his three accomplices.
According to police, Valand had started an office named Jay Mataji International Overseas Consultant in Limkheda taluka of Panchmahal district in February this year. “He told us that he had seen a movie Players in January this year and got inspired by the dialogue. Valand then decided to start the consultancy firm,” said H M Vyas, police inspector, PCB.
Valand hired two managers and a driver along with a leased car to impress his clients. He used to promise people jobs in Malaysia and charge Rs 15,000 per job. The accused had already cheated 100 persons from Vadodara, Rajkot, Godhra, Jaipur, Gorakhpur and Delhi. “He was planning to cheat 200 people and then disappear with their money. But one of his clients Bhavesh Nikam, who stays in Tarsali, got suspicious of his acts and approached us,” Vyas said.
Valand told the cops that he used to work as a tailor between 2006 and 2008. He then worked as an electrician in Saudi Arabia in 2009-10. From 2001 to 2017, he worked as a loan verification officer in an agency under a private bank.
Valand’s accomplices, who are in police custody, have been identified as Dinesh Patel and Kamlesh Parmar who worked as manager in his firm. Sanjay Salat used to work his driver.
Valand disowned by family too
Prime Accused Mayur Valand was arrested by the Fatehgunj police in a cheating case in 2014. Valand had promised to send a man abroad and took Rs 1.76 lakh from him. But he didn’t send the complainant abroad and didn’t return the money too. His family had already disowned him due to his cheating activities.
The accused in custody