Mira Bhayandar: Cheque forged by 'magic pen', cops nab cheat who duped loan seeker of ₹1.48 lakh

Bhayandar: Sleuths of the Navghar police in Bhayandar have arrested a 38-year-old fraudster for his alleged involvement in duping people by taking crossed and cancelled cheques inked with erasable (magic) pen on the pretext of securing loans for them.

The action followed in response to a complaint filed by a 56-year-old businessman who was cheated of Rs 1,48,500 by the accused under the guise of providing a loan from a well-known non-banking financial company (NBFC).

The accused who has been identified as- Jigar Dhirajlal Kareliya (38), collected documents including- aadhar card, pan card, GST registration papers and bank statements to check eligibility and later took four crossed cheques as security deposit to process the loan.

However, the complainant was shocked to learn that Rs 1,48,500 had been fraudulently withdrawn from his bank account via bearer cheques using three different names, this despite the fact that the complainant had duly crossed the cheques before handing them over to the suspect. The accused had apparently altered the contents of the instrument to withdraw cash from the bank.

A team led by Senior Police Inspector- Milind Desai investigated the matter and the money trail led to the accused who was arrested and booked under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a genuine document) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.

The police also recovered Rs 65,000 from the possession of the accused who is suspected to be involved in other similar crimes by using this modus operandi. The accused who works as a loan agent is a resident of Penkarpada area in Kashimira. Further investigations were on.