Kalyan: Thane Crime Branch Unit One, have arrested nine accused, including two traders, who duped 606 Kolhapur and Belgaon (Karnataka) farmers on the pretext of buying cashew and later did not pay them their dues and were absconding.
The police seized 2,234 boxes of cashew and laptop, mobile phone and a car worth is Rs 2 crore.
The main accused, who are believed to be traders, have been identified as Deepak Kumar Patel and Mahesh Gyanchandani along with two agents and five receivers. The main accused changed their identity and made fake Aadhaar card and pan card to avoid to arrest by police.
Patel and Gyanchandani both generated two fake companies in which one company’s name was Ashtvinayak Trading Company, established on July 2018. Patel contacted Kolhapur and Belgaon (Karnataka) cashew farmers. He had taken cashew in huge quantity and paid the amount accordingly during the initial period, said the police.
On September 2018, Patel told the farmers that during Diwali, he needed large quantity of cashew duly to be exported. So he requested the farmers to provide it on credit for a month. The farmers agreed to send them big cashew consignment. On October 30, he closed down both the fake firms and switched off the mobile phones, the police said.
Khalid Mujawar, a Kolhapur cashew farmer approached to Kapurbawadi police in Thane on November 2018 informing the police how they were cheated and lodged a cheating case against them.
Assistant Police Inspector, Sandeep Bagul said, “Khalid sent 200 cashew boxes to him. One box having 10kg each worth Rs 7,000. His dues was not paid by Patel.”
