Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): A businessman from Gwalior city dealing in medicines was called to Kenya for expanding trade and duped of Rs 9 lakh, the police said on Wednesday.
The accused also kept him in confinement for several days and snatched the visa and the passport from him. The trader, somehow, managed to return to Gwalior.
He then lodged a complaint with the crime branch in Gwalior.
According to the complaint, the main accused lives in Gujarat, India. The police began an inquiry into the case.
The trader Baibhav Kant Upadhyay, a resident of TaraganjSamadhiya colony in the city, deals in medicines. The name of his firm is Navindo Pharma Private Limited.
According to the police, a friend of Upadhyay, Paramveer Bhatt, who also deals in medicines, was working in Kenya.
Paramveer Bhatt introduced Upadhyay to Shivam Bhatt, his uncle Shirish Bhatt and another person Ravi Patel. Paramveer Bhatt, then, spoke to Upadhyay over the phone about setting up a business in Kenya.
Shivam, Ravi and Shirish assured Upadhyay that they would provide him with a workpermint to set up his business in Kenya. The trio also told Upadhyay that he would be required to spend Rs 10 lakh for the work permit.
On their assurances, Upadhyay transferred Rs 4.90 lakh to the accounts of Shirish Bhatt’s company, Shivam Traders, Anand in Gujarat.
In his complaint, Upadhyay said he had been called to Kenya. On February 6 this year, he reached Kenya where Shivam, Ravi and Shirish took him to an office and asked him to do some paperwork and deposit some money.
They told him to deposit the money at the embassy so that he might soon start his business. Nevertheless, after Upadhyay deposited the money, the trio did not respond to his plea for starting the work he had come for.
When Upadhyay opposed their way of working, the trio confined him in a room and snatched the passport and the visa from him.
Upadhyay, somehow, returned to Kenya and asked the three accused to return the money, but they were not giving it back.
Additional superintendent of police (crime branch) Rajesh Dandotia said the director of a medicine firm had complained that three persons had cheated him in the name of providing him with a work permit in Kenya.
The police are inquiring into the case and they will take action once the probe is over, he said.
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