The police have registered cheating cases against a man who has been duping people by impersonating as Nashik's district collector and taking money from people by providing them government vehicles at cheap rates.
Two cases have so far been registered against this conman with the Thane and Navi Mumbai police. While one victim is a beautician, another victim is a retired officer from Food and Drugs Administration department. The police suspects that more people could have been duped by the conman.
The accused person has been identified as Tushar Maruti Thigne, a resident of Nerul in Navi Mumbai.
On April 16, a 59-year-old man who had retired from FDA in 2019 had lodged a complaint with the Chitalsar Manpada police stating that the complainant owns a house in Nashik, which he wanted to give on rent. On April 1, the victim received a call from a person who identified himself as Tushar Thigne. Thigne told him that he was recently posted as a district collector in Nashik and was looking for a rented accommodation.
"Thigne came to Thane to meet the victim and had arrived in a vehicle containing amber light. The victim got convinced that Thigne is a government servant and agreed to give him the house on rent after completion of paper work. Thigne then sent some photographs of cars to the victim and told him that he had got those vehicles from a government auction. Thigne offered to give the vehicle to the victim at cheap rates. The victim agreed and paid him Rs 1 lakh through mobile money transfer. Since then, Thigne started avoiding taking victim's calls. The victim then called at the Nashik collector office and was shocked to know that no person by name of Tushar Thigne works there. The victim then lodged a cheating case with the police," said a police officer.
On April 15, a 46-year-old woman from Panvel had lodged a complaint with the Panvel City police stating that she had received makeup work for a marriage in February and while doing the make up work of the bride, she came in contact with Tushar Thigne, who claimed to be Nashik collector.
"Thigne had arrived in a red colour SUV and had told the victim that he was selling his office vehicles at cheap rates and asked the victim if she was interested in buying vehicles. The victim agreed to buy three SUVs and ended up paying Rs 7.18 lakh to Thigne. Later she realised that she has been duped," said another police officer.
