Mumbai: Four individuals, including a 20-year-old, have been booked for defrauding a Madhya Pradesh-based businessman of Rs 41 lakh by promising gold biscuits with a 10 to 15 % return. The con involved the staged kidnapping of a gang member who collected the money when businessman Piyush Gupta arrived at Sakinaka to receive the gold consignment. Powai police registered the case against more than four suspects—Amit Jain, Rajesh Jain, Shubham, and other partners—on Saturday and are actively searching for them.Police are questioning Gupta’s friends who had arranged the contact numbers of the accused, informing him about the gold being sold at below-market prices. “The police team is trying to track down the accused through details provided by Nadeem Khan from Andheri and Nasir Khan from Bandra, who supplied Gupta with the contact information of the accused and informed him about the gold they have. The probe is ongoing to determine whether the Khans had any role in the offence,” the officer added. In his complaint, Gupta said, “The entire fraud was executed between Sept 2 and Sept 10.” On Sept 3, Rajesh Jain informed Gupta that his associates Amit Jain and Shubham would deliver the gold. Shubham called Gupta to Kadam Hotel in Chembur on Sept 3 but the consignment was not delivered. According to the officer, on Sept 12, Amit Jain called Gupta to Santosh Bar on Sakivihar Road in Powai. Gupta arrived there with Nadim Khan and Nasir Khan at 3 pm. A boy met them, showed a gold biscuit, and asked for cash. When Gupta requested the gold, the boy asked him to follow and took the bag containing Rs 41 lakh when a white Innova car without a number plate approached. Three men exited the vehicle, abducted the boy, and sped away. Gupta called Shubham, who claimed that a police case had been filed and that he would return the gold or the money. When Gupta queried him thereafter, Shubham provided false reasons and demanded additional money, which raised suspicion and led Gupta to file the case.
