Businessman held at airport for duping NRI of Rs 10 crore

MUMBAI: Deven Jitendra Mehta, managing director of the SJ Group of Enterprises, estimated to be worth over Rs 500 crore, was arrested in a cheating case early on Thursday after his flight landed at the airport from France.
Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) had issued a lookout notice after he left India last week. The 48-year-old is accused of cheating an NRI of Rs 10 crore by forging property documents. He was booked under the IPC sections for cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
Mehta is an equity investor who turned into an entrepreneur a few years ago. In 2010, he set up a company, Smart Card IT Solutions Limited that made chip-based cards. His family business SJ Enterprises is involved in trading import licences and holds investments in real estate.
After arrest, he was produced before the Esplanade metropolitan magistrate court which remanded him to police custody till June 17. He also faces cheating charges in a case registered by businessman Sanjay Kanvar.
The complainant in the Rs 10-crore case is Yogesh Shah, a Hong Kong resident and diamond trader who was looking at a plot as investment. "The complainant met Deven through a close relative in his Hanging Garden residence in 2007. As the complainant had shown interest in investing, Deven told him about a 10-acre plot in Alibaug going cheap. He convinced the complainant to jointly buy the plot for Rs 10 crore," said an officer.
In 2008, Mehta and Shah visited Kural village in Alibaug and approved the property. Shah left it to Mehta to scrutinise the documents and left. Following Mehta's clearance, Shah remitted Rs 1 crore initially and the balance Rs 9 crore over five years. Mehta sent a sale agreement with plot owner Usha Dhanukar, but it showed Shah had paid a sum of Rs 1 crore," said investigating officer Prakash Bagaal of EOW.
Later, whenever Shah asked about the transfer of property documents, Mehta said work is pending. Mehta then sent an email to Shah, saying the land has been transferred in Shah's name and he's just waiting to get the paperwork done. Giving excuses, Mehta bought time till 2014, when Shah asked a friend for a report on that plot. He was told the land was worth only Rs 28 lakh, it was reserved land of the forest department and all the documents sent by Mehta appeared to be fake. In 2016, Shah flew to India and filed a cheating complaint against Mehta.
"After the preliminary inquiry, when it was confirmed that Deven Mehta had hatched a conspiracy and duped the complainant, we arrested him," said Parag Manere, DCP (EOW) on Thursday. The police said there is ample evidence like exchange of emails, fake documents, WhatsApp messages, etc.