Five booked for swindling Thane businessman of $20,000

Thane, Dec 24 (PTI) Police in Maharashtra’s Thane district have booked five members of a family for allegedly defrauding a businessman of $20,000 (over Rs 17 lakh) under the pretext of assisting with foreign exchange services, an official has said.

In his complaint to the Mahatma Phule Chowk police, Rajesh Amritlal Bhatia said a long-time friend had asked him to arrange traveller’s checks for his daughter’s architecture studies in Dubai.

Citing the FIR, the official said on Tuesday that Bhatia was carrying $20,000 in a bag on November 6, when two brothers, one of whom worked in his friend’s office, in the Kalyan area.

The duo took Bhatia to their home, claiming one of their family members had expertise in foreign travel documents. They persuaded him to hand over the money and asked him to collect the traveller’s checks in the evening.

However, when Bhatia returned, the suspects provided evasive answers and eventually fled with the currency, the official said.

“We have registered a cheating case after a preliminary inquiry. The accused family members have been at large since the incident,” said inspector Baliramsing Shankarshing Pardeshi. PTI COR NR