Commuter's plaint lands fake memory card sellers behind bars

The Kurla government railway police (GRP) on Tuesday arrested three persons for being involved in the sale of fake memory cards after a commuter lodged a complaint.

“Praveen Sanghvi, 40, a wholesale dealer, and two retailers –  Rizwan Khan, 28, and Munir Khan alias Noor Bihari, 20, –  were booked under section 420 (cheating) of the IPC and section 144 (illegal hawking on railway premises) of the India Railway Act and remanded to police custody till December 27 by the CST railway court,” said Shivaji Dhumal, senior inspector of Kurla GRP station. He added that the police recovered 1,100 fake cards from them.

It was revealed during investigation that the memory cards were replicas of US-based SanDisk brand. “The cost of original cards is around Rs350 to Rs400 while the hawkers would sell them for Rs20 each. Sanghvi, who used to bring the consignment from Delhi, sold the fake cards at Rs4 each to the retailers,” said inspector DB Pable of Kurla GRP station.

Ramesh Gupta, who works at a sharebroker’s office in south Mumbai said, “I brought two memory cards from two hawkers for Rs20 each from the foot over bridge at Kurla station on December 22. I inserted the cards in my cell phone after reaching home only to find that they did not work. On close inspection, I found that their size was different from the original cards and realised they were fake,” said Gupta. He lodged a complaint with the Kurla (GRP) the next day.

“Acting on the complaint, the police first arrested two hawkers from Kurla station and then nabbed Sanghvi by posing as customers,” said sub-inspector Shekhar Shinde of Kurla GRP station.