Pune: The Vishrambaug police registered a case of cheating against 6 men, primarily casual workers, for cheating a retired additional director of a private company (61) of Rs 6.7 crore by promising to repair his drainage line between April 2024 and Jan.After registering a case of cheating with the Vishrambaug police, the Pune police’s economic offences wing (EOW) took over the case for further investigation on Tuesday.According to an EOW officer, trees had grown on the drainage line and it developed cracks because it was an old drainage. A section of the bungalow owned by the retired officer was given on rent and, due to these troubles the tenant raised the issue.“The victim started contacting various people, mostly civil contractors and workers, to do the repair,” the EOW officer said.“A worker approached him. He told the victim that he would take Rs 65,000 as labour charges and machinery charges would be separate. The victim agreed and asked him to do the work,” the officer said.“The worker then visited the drainage site and, after making some observations, he told the victim that he would have to shift the pipeline, remove the power cables, pay fees to the Pune Municipal Corporation, pay charges to the water department, and others. He asked the victim to pay Rs 15.53 lakh, including the material charges,” the officer said.“The worker and his accomplices went on making demands to pay fees of different govt departments, and the victim went on paying them money,” police said. “In all, the victim transferred Rs 6.7 crore to them,” police said.“Following this, the victim started taking feedback on the work, and they claimed that they could only work after PMC officials did the work of the drainage line located outside the bungalow,” he said.“The victim started taking regular follow-up, but whenever he asked the labourers about the work, they kept on giving excuses. One after another worker went on claiming that their kin, either mother or father or other relatives, died and they took leave from their jobs. None of them reported to work at the drainage pipeline,” he said.“The victim also conducted inquiries about these deaths. All the deaths turned out to be fake. Following this, the victim approached the EOW officials with his complaint,” he said.
