Pune: A man was arrested by the Bund Garden police for allegedly duping over 250 people to the tune of Rs 3.5 crore under the pretext of selling them land at cheap rates.
The accused has been identified as Mohan Jayanta Gaikwad, proprietor of MG Properties. One of the victims, Chaitrali Shindikar (31), had lodged an FIR against him on September 9 last year. According to the police, the accused had opened an office in Parmar Trade Centre near Sadhu Vaswani Chowk. He had given an advertisement in 2014 about cheap plots available for sale. He had also assured people of renting their land for lucrative returns.
Shindikar had invested Rs 10 lakh and 16 other people had invested Rs 53.4 lakh along with her. However, they neither got land nor refund of their money. Hence, a police complaint was registered. The accused and his three accomplices continued to evade arrest. On Sunday, the accused was caught by some of the complainants in Lonavla and handed over to the Pune police for further investigation. Gaikwad was produced before a magistrate’s court on Monday and remanded to police custody. His other accomplices are Shabana Shaikh, Abhay Bhame and Vikas More.
