Mumbai: A Borivali couple reportedly lost ₹72.5 lakh to three people from Kolhapur after meeting through a temple priest. In their police complaint, homemaker Meenal Seth, 38, and her husband Deepak Kumar said that they visited a Karnataka temple in 2021. There, they Jain Muni Namit Sagar and subsequently started frequenting him for saintly advice.
In 2022, the priest introduced the couple to his “devotees” Deshbhushan Deshmane, Pritam Deshmane and Rajendra Nelrlikar. He said that the trio were seasoned investors, with expertise in forex trading.
Subsequently, they met the couple several times and shared information about stock and forex trading. They allegedly induced them to make investments, promising good returns. Falling into the trap, the complainants transferred a total of ₹72.5 lakh to the trio in various transactions spanning from April 2022 to August 2022. However, they didn't get any benefits.
After much back and forth, the trio refunded around ₹2 lakh, alleged the couple, mentioning that Nerlikar handed a cheque of ₹18 lakh in May 2023. It turned out to be dud, after which the accused kept giving hollow assurances, they added. Finally, the complainants visited the trio's native and found out that they had deceived others in a similar manner to the tune of more than ₹5 crore.
On January 31, the couple filed a case against them under the Indian Penal Code sections 34 (common intention), 406 (breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by agent) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty) at the Kasturba Marg police station.
