Pune: An advocate from Nigdi and a Kolhapur resident were arrested on Tuesday on the charge of duping a building contractor (59) from Moshi of Rs2.65 crore after offering to deposit Rs112 crore in his bank account for 10 years and he could enjoy a part of the interest on the sum for personal use.The contractor transferred Rs2.65 crore to a bank account number given to him for the payment of income tax between July and August. He later found that the accused had duped him by giving a fake demand draft and bogus orders of the Supreme Court. The Pimpri Chinchwad registered a case under sections 316 (criminal breach of trust), 318 (cheating), 336, 337, 338, 339, 340 (forgery) and 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The economic offences wing of the Pimpri Chinchwad Crime Branch is investigating it.An officer from the Pimpri Chinchwad police said the arrested advocate knew the contractor. He contacted the victim in July under the pretext of showing him some plots. The officer said the advocate and two more people allegedly told the building contractor about the “will” of a wealthy man from Kolhapur, who had appointed a judge of the Supreme Court to implement it. The suspects said, according to the will, Rs112 crore would be deposited in the bank accounts of 50 well-off people. The criminals said the “beneficiaries” would have to give a part of the interest on the sum to the Kolhapur-based man’s daughter and her children, and spend some part on social work. The suspects told the contractor that he could use the remaining amount if he agreed to the riders. “They also told the victim that the person who accepts this offer will have to pay Rs3 crore income tax,” the officer said.He said the advocate and others told the building contractor that they had accepted the fixed deposit and urged him to accept it. “They took Rs2.6 crore in a transport agency’s bank account and Rs5 lakh in cash from the victim,” he said.The officer said the suspects gave the contractor a photocopy of the demand draft of Rs112 crore, an MoU with the stamp of the civil court in Mumbai, and two orders from the Supreme Court. The victim realised that he was duped when the money was not deposited in his bank account. He also found that the court stamp and the orders were fake. “Two people have been arrested. A search is on for four others,” the officer said.
