A 50-year-old restaurateur has been arrested for allegedly duping a man of Rs 5 crore on the pretext of providing him with a Rs 150 crore loan after posing as the secretary of a well-known trust.
The accused, identified as one Sanjay M Bachchan, a resident of Vadodara in Gujarat, was arrested from his hometown on Wednesday by the Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police.
He was found to be living a lavish life in Vadodara, where he owned fancy SUVs and was also running an upscale restaurant. He has two wives and separate houses were purchased for both of them in the city, police said.
"He had cheated one SK Rastogi on the pretext of providing a loan at a low rate of interest. He along with other associates cheated many other victims on the same pretext. A similar case was also found to have been registered against him," said DCP (EOW), Mangesh Kashyap.
In his complaint, Rastogi alleged that he was approached by one Jai Prakash Gupta who assured him that he would arrange for a private financier. A meeting was set up with one Rajesh Gupta (who was later identified as M Bachchan) of Vadodara and he was introduced as secretary of a trust. It was told that they will arrange for the loan of Rs 150 crore through the trust.
"The accused (Bachchan) posing as Rajesh Gupta, introduced the complainant to CK Soni, president of the trust, who promised to arrange loan of Rs 150 crore. Soni stated that he would charge Rs 5 crore as stamp charges, processing fee and commission for arrangement of the loan," said Kashyap.
A total sum of Rs 5 crore was received by Soni, Rs 2.35 crore in the form of RTGS and remaining in the form of cash and jewellery. Thereafter, neither the money was returned nor the loan given.
During the course of the investigation, it was found that of the Rs 2.35 crore, Rs 47 lakh was transferred to Bachchan's account.
"The modus operandi of the accused was that he posed as Rajesh Gupta and introduced himself as secretary of the trust. Further, he introduced complainant to Soni, who assured the complainant they will arrange the loan of Rs 150 crore and they will charge a processing fee for the same," said Kashyap.
After taking the processing fee, they switched off their phones and started to avoid the complainant. Further inquiry by the complainant revealed that they had no association with the said trust.
