A priest and two others were arrested for allegedly duping a businesswoman (Representational)

A priest, associated with the Miraj Catholic Church in Sangli, and two others were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly duping a businesswoman from Malad to the tune of Rs 12 lakh.

According to police, the complainant Heena Charla, a manufacturer and distributor of joss sticks, approached the Crime Branch in the first week of October with a case of cheating.

Police said that the accused, Father Thomas Vasant Navgire, is the mastermind while another arrested accused, Shailesh Pol, worked as a sales executive for the complainant’s company. Pol was paid Rs 17,000 per month and took care of sales in Pune, Solapur, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur.

Last month, the complainant was in need of money and she approached Pol. “She was yet to pay Pol his salary. When he asked her whether she was in need of a loan, Charla responded positively. Pol claimed he knew people in Sangli who could help her following which he deposited 1.36 lakh in her bank account in two days,” said an officer. After winning her confidence, Pol asked the complainant if she was looking for a further loan.

“Charla wanted to expand her business and claimed she wanted Rs 2 crore. Pol said he could help her, but added that she would have to pay some interest in advance,” said an officer. On October 4, Charla went to Sangli to receive the loan amount, for which she was asked to pay 12 lakh in advance.

“She was introduced to the Father of a Catholic Church in Miraj, Thomas Vasant Navgire, and one Raju who asked her to stay for two days, claiming they needed time to arrange the money. Raju said they have a machine to manufacture currency of different countries,” said an officer. Some people then posed as Crime Branch officers and claimed to be arresting Raju and Navgire for printing fake currency.

“To prevent herself from being arrested, the woman paid them Rs 12 lakh and returned to Mumbai. When she later began to get calls from the fake police officials threatening to arrest her in the same case, she sensed something amiss and informed the Mumbai Police Crime Branch,” said an officer. The crime branch then registered a case with Dindoshi police and asked her to stay in touch with the callers.

“She agreed to pay them Rs 9 lakh but asked them to come to Mumbai. We nabbed them when they arrived in Malad,” said an officer. Navgire, Pol and Dilip Pol were arrested on the spot. “Dilip Pol was the one who made threatening calls,” said an officer. The trio was produced in court on Wednesday and remanded to police custody. Senior police inspector Chimaji Adhav from Crime Branch unit 11 confirmed the arrest and said, “We have learnt that they have duped 10 more people and are trying to locate the absconding accused.”