Two dupe 30 people of Rs5 crore, arrested

The police have arrested two people on charges of cheating more than 30 people to the tune of more than Rs5 crore. The duo allegedly used two realty web portals to attract customers through their cheap housing scheme.

Sandeep Singh, 28, a Mira Road resident, and Sunil Singh, 31, a Nalasopara resident, would post advertisements on the portals about auctioned flats, which are generally priced low, and take 30% advance from the total amount of the flat after showing it to a victim in and around Vasai-Virar, Borivli, Kandivli and Kalyan-Dombivli. The main accused Yogesh Karande is still absconding.

“I was shown flats in and around Vasai-Virar and some others were shown in Kalyan-Dombivli and Vashi. They cheated me and many others to the tune of more than Rs5 crore,” said Chetan Shah.

Senior inspector of Manickpur police station Arvind Choudhary said, “Till now, 30 people have lodged complaints. More are expected to come forward. We have formed a special team to investigate the case and hope to arrest the main accused Yogesh Karande soon.”
“The modus operandi of the accused was to show auctioned flats to prospective buyers through the advertisements on the two realty web portals and demand 30% advance from them. We have registered the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code,” Choudhary added.