Mercedes Pledged, Swift Offered And Promises Broken As Indore Couple Booked In ₹16.70 Lakh

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A couple was booked for allegedly duping a travel agency owner of Rs 16.70 lakh in the Bhanwarkuan area, police said on Friday. The couple allegedly borrowed money from him by claiming they were in need.

They also allegedly threatened to implicate the complainant in a false case when he demanded his money back.

Bhanwarkuan police station in-charge Santosh Dudhi said a case has been registered against Vinayak Mittal of Sunshine Residency in Bijalpur and his wife, Priyanka Mittal, on the complaint of Gopal Bairagi of Abhinav Nagar.

Gopal told police that he had known Vinayak for about two years. On Jan 1, Vinayak allegedly pledged a Mercedes-Benz car registered in his wife's name and took Rs 6 lakh from Gopal.

They agreed that the money would be returned within two months and the car would be taken back.

About 15 days later, Vinayak took the car, saying that it had to be sent to a garage and would be returned within a week. He later kept delaying the matter by not giving the complainant a satisfactory reply.

On March 29, Vinayak introduced Gopal to a person. A Swift car was pledged, and around Rs 2.5 lakh was taken, with a promise to return the money within a month.

During this period, Vinayak also took another Rs 8.20 lakh from Gopal through bank transactions and online payments, citing his father's illness.

Gopal later said that bank officials started approaching him for the Swift car's loan instalments, which he also paid.

When he asked Vinayak to return the money and the cars, Vinayak allegedly said he did not have the money.

Gopal later went to Vinayak's house with an acquaintance and learned that the Mercedes had allegedly been sold.

Gopal submitted documents related to the cars and financial transactions to the police. After an investigation, the police registered a case under the relevant section against Priyanka and Vinayak and started further investigation.