Over the last few years, the accused cheated 157 people, police said. (Representational)
Police have arrested four persons, including a woman, for allegedly cheating more than 150 homebuyers to the tune of Rs 3.75 crore across three districts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, an official said on Wednesday.
The quartet and their associates floated dubious companies, lured people with a promise of facilitating the sale of cheap homes, and then disappeared with their money, he said.
Senior inspector Pramod Badakh of the Crime Unit III of the Mira-Bhayander-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police said the accused who operated under different names were arrested from Kalwa in Thane district and Mira Road on Mumbai's outskirts.
He told reporters that between June 2021 and March 2022, the accused lured homebuyers under the pretext of facilitating the sale of houses auctioned by banks at cheap rates.
They set up a company with its office in Virar in Palghar district and cheated 45 homebuyers to the tune of Rs 80 lakh and vanished, said the police officer.
An offence under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections related to cheating, criminal breach of trust, forgery and relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act (MPID Act) was filed against the accused at the Arnala Sagari Police station under the MBVV jurisdiction following a complaint by victims who neither got flats promised to them nor money they had deposited, he said.
Officials of the Crime Unit III relied on intelligence and inputs from various sources about the gang and zeroed on the accused who operated under different names to conceal their identity.
The accused were identified by the police as Asif Sayed, 31, Sohal Shaikh, 28, Pravin Malhari Nanavare, 32, and Heena Sayyed, 30.
During interrogation, the role of the accused came to light in two similar cases registered in Mumbai and Thane. In all, three cases of cheating were solved with the arrest of the quartet, inspector Badakh said.
Over the last few years, the accused cheated 157 people to the tune of Rs 3.75 crore in Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts, he said.
They have been booked in the other two cases also, said the police officer.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)