2017 BMC poll candidate held from 3-BHK loo in loan con

MUMBAI: A woman who contested the 2017 municipal election from Bhandup has been arrested for duping many of Rs 5 crore posing as a funding company director.
Sheetal Nikam alias Nirbhavne (44) was arrested in the toilet of a plush three-bedroom flat rented for Rs 1.5 lakh by her and her family in Hiranandani Gardens, Powai.
"Nikam was found hiding in one of the toilets, which her family had put a latch on from outside," a police officer said.
Nikam collected money through NEFT towards stamp duty and registration fees to process loans that she made tall promises about to her victims, said the police.
A school dropout and divorcee, she lived with her parents, brother and sister-in-law. Wanted for five years, she was traced when she switched on one of her old mobile numbers.
There were cheating cases against Nikam at police stations in Bhandup, Dadar, Kanjurmarg, MRA Marg, Powai, and Ambad in Nashik. A person was even cheated of no less than Rs 23 lakh.
"She has been paying Rs 1.5 lakh rent for the flat and bought a hatchback car," the officer said.
On Thursday, a film producer, Anil Kumar Sharma (42), complained he was cheated of Rs 2.5 lakh, having been promised a loan of Rs 5 crore for a new web series project.
Sharma's policecomplaint said he came across Nikam through a Facebook group where she claimed she was the director of a financial company that gave loans for big projects. "She fixed the meeting at a five-star hotel in Andheri (east) and during the meeting she told me to do online fund transfer for processing the loan. After the funds were transferred, Nikam switched off her phone," the complaint said.
A victim from south Mumbai, Sneha Visaria, was duped of Rs 3 lakh in a similar manner.
Visaria said Nikam told her she was the director of a finance company that receives pool funding from several institutions.
"Mine is a start-up company, so I and my five partners from Pune were looking for a loan to purchase packaging machines for our business set-up," Visaria said. "We heard of Nikam from friends. We met this 'Nirbhavne' at a star-hotel in Andheri (east) in April. She was in a hurry to get money from us. She told us she was collecting the money for stamp duty and registration for processing the loan."
Visaria's partner paid Nikam Rs 3 lakh through NEFT transfer.
"Later the woman started giving excuses and was not even reachable," Visaria said. "Then we did some online research about the conwoman and found that she had cheated many similarly."
A police officer said that Nikam had also duped many with the promise of a job at Mantralaya and overseas.