Kalwa man cheated of Rs 4 lakh in ‘blue blooded crab’ deal

THANE: The Thane crime branch arrested a conman for cheating a Kalwa resident to the tune of Rs 3.66 lakh on the pretext of selling “blue blood of crabs”, which he claimed was in great demand in the pharma industry of United Kingdom (UK).
The police said that they arrested Abdul Kadir Ibrahim Kutchi, a resident of Panvel for the online fraud.

Kutchi impersonated a purchase officer working with a UK-based Kent Pharmaceutical Company.

“The accused told them that some Indian crabs have special medicinal value as they have blue blood and their company was looking forward to purchasing it in bulk even though it was worth crores of rupees for a few mililitres,” said inspector Nitin Thakare.

The victim, Ninad Telgote, received an ‘official’ email to the effect that offered him a deal to invest money in this business promising him great returns. When Telgote expressed his willingness, he was told to purchase it from their dealers by providing him the contacts. The unsuspecting victim purchased it from the contacts, but neither the purchase officer nor anyone from the UK-based company came to collect it, added the officer.

The victim was asked to deposit money in a bank account, said a police officer. The unsuspecting victim deposited a total sum of Rs 3.66 lakh in several installments on an account number given by the accused. However, after a few days, the victim realized that he had been cheated and filed a complaint with the local police, who initated a probe.

An offence under Sections 420 rw 34 of the Indian Penal Code and also Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act of 2008 has been registered in this regard by the Kalwa police. The police said that during interrogation of the accused after his arrest on May 26, the police came to know that such an international gang was opearating in several states of the country and investigations were being carried out in that direction, he said. The police said that the accused had been arrested earlier in 2018 by the Kasarwadavli police in a similar case of cheating.