States »WesPosted at: May 5 2021 4:38AM

Eight arrested in cheating case

Thane, May 5 (UNI) With arrest of eight people including a jeweller and a number of women, the Bhiwandi police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a gang whose members allegedly cheated 265 persons by offering attractive investment schemes and also by mortgaging jewellery.
The gang ran a well-organized racket by taking advantage of the citizens in the ongoing Covid pandemic and lockdown situation, police said.
The mastermind of the entire racket was a woman who operated from Bhiwandi town.
The woman called for mortgage of jewellery and offered to pay Rs 1,500 per gm per month and also deposit of Rs one lakh and offered to pay interest of Rs 10,000 per month.
She had either mortgaged the obtained jewellery elsewhere or sold it to the jeweller.
Initially the woman made the payments properly but later stopped making the payments.
When the investors began chasing her for their money and/or jewellery, she started avoiding them on some pretexts.
Based on a complaint by one of the victims, a first information report under sections 420, 406 and 34 of Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositers Act was registered with the Shanti Nagar police station under Bhiwandi division against the accused.
Acting on this, police arrested the accused, including three women and three couples besides the jeweller, recently.
The arrested accused have been identified as Rubi Mustakim Ansari (mastermind of the racket), Mustakim Ansari, Reshma Shamim Ansari, Shamim Ansari, Alia Sagir Sayyed, Sagir Sayyed, Irfan Ansari and Vikrant Jain (jeweller).
Police recovered total 2406.700 gm of gold jewellery worth Rs 73,54,320 from various locations where they had mortgaged it and also from the arrested accused including the jeweller.
Further probe into the crime is being carried out by the local police, sources added.
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