Businessman robbed of Rs 35 lakh

Thane, June 17 : A businessman from Mumbai has been duped by two persons, who took Rs 35 lakh from him for the purchase of a restaurant here and fled with the booty, police said.

The Chitalsar police station under Wagle Division registered an offence under Section 420 rw 34 of IPC against the duo on Saturday and investigation into the same was underway. No arrest has been made so far in this connection, police said.

According to complainant Anand Mishra, who owns a Digital News Channel in Mumbai, he was informed by one of his friends that a restaurant in Thane's Manpada locality was up for sale. The owner was in heavy debts to sell the restaurant for Rs 1.50 crore.

Accordingly, Anand met one Gopal in May, 2018. After a couple of meetings, the victim was called by Gopal and another person by the name of Shah near the restaurant, which they said, was for sale.

The victim went round the restaurant and was told that the owner of the restaurant and his advocate were waiting for him at some other location for the deal.

When the victim arrived at the specified spot on June 15, he was made to move from place to place for couple of hours, and finally, two persons came in a car and with the help of Shah, took the bag containing cash of Rs 35 lakh and fled the scene.

The victim then contacted Gopal, who assured him that they were his men. Having doubt, Anand inquired about the restaurant and found that it was not for sale at all. Having realised that he has been cheated and his cash snatched away, he filed a complaint with the local police.

The victim stated that he had collected the money from his friends, which had been stolen away and his attempt to contact Gopal failed as his phone was not reachable at all.