PUNE: The owner of PNG Jewellers, Saurabh Gadgil, on Tuesday lodged a police complaint accusing a man from Chandigarh of duping him of Rs1.6 crore over a deal for setting up its franchisee shop in Chandigarh.
He approached the Vishrambaug police on Tuesday for lodging the FIR. A senior officer from the city crime branch, which has taken over the investigation from the Vishrambaug police, said, “We have obtained details of the Chandigarh businessman and are trying to locate him. We have also obtained copies of the agreement between Gadgil and the businessman.”
The police have registered the case under the sections 406 (Criminal breach of trust) and 420 (Cheating) of Indian Penal Code.
Gadgil, the owner of one of the oldest jewellery houses in the city with a chain of showrooms in Pune and elsewhere, told TOI, “We were looking for associates for our business expansion plans in northern India and came in contact with Rohit Kumar Sharma of Chandigarh through a common friend in 2018. He came to Pune and met me in our jewellery shop on Laxmi Road. He was keen to start his business of jewellery with our brand in Chandigarh.”
He said, “A proper franchisee agreement was executed with him. Sharma told us that he needed money to show as initial capital investment for securing a Rs50 crore loan from financial institutions there. We gave him Rs1.6 crore, but things barely progressed thereafter. He kept giving evasive replies before going incommunicado during the lockdown period.”
Gadgil said, “We were in contact with him until the Covid lockdown was announced. He cited difficulties in starting the business because of the lockdown. Till then, he had not obtained a loan from bank.”
“We realised that he was not doing enough to start the jewellery store in Chandigarh. Post-lockdown, we tried to contact him, but he was unreachable. After waiting for a few weeks, we decided to lodge a complaint with the police,” he added.