A businessman from Ghatkopar and his daughter were defrauded of Rs 8.33 crore by teo persons who promised to get the woman a work visa, job in the United States of America (USA).
The businessman, Jayesh Thakkar (66) and his daughter (33) were strung along by the accused persons since 2015.
According to the Tilak Nagar Police, who lodged an FIR on Thursday night based on Thakkar's complaint, the two accused--a 36-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman--met the family in 2015.
His daughter Shreya was then a medical student in US and the family wanted to get a permanent work visa for her so she could continue being there.
Inspector Vilas Rathod told FPJ, "The daughter was a medical student at that time (2015) and since her course was about to get completed, her student visa too was expiring. The family was worried and wanted to get her a permanent work visa so she could continue being in the states while pursuing her dream job that she worked for so long."
Rathod, who is also investigating officer in the case added, "In the first two years the accused made several excuses and later used pandemic as an excuse to delay procedure further. Till date, the two accused have collected amount attuning to Rs 8.33 crore from the family in the name of fees."
According to the police, the two accused were very thorough in getting the daughter the work visa and very convincing due to which no suspicion was raised until now.
Last month, the family grew tired of waiting and demanded the money back from the accused.
“When they asked for the money back, they pretended to have sent back all the money and even provided proofs in the form of bank documents, etc, but later the family realized it was all fake and they never returned any money nor did they have any intention to pay back,” said another police officer.
The accused duo went off the radar when the family persisted with their demand that they return the money; thence the family approached police for help.
“We registered an FIR on Thursday late night and started with the technical investigation since we have their point of contact details provided by the victim’s family. Maybe they sensed this situation which is why they are now missing. We have some leads towards them and we are positive that will make us reach them. Probe is under progress,” added Rathod. He further said that they have been business partners for a while.
As of now, the police have booked the accused duo under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
