Mumbai crime: Man held for selling tenanted premises

The police on Wednesday said that a 72yearold man a partner in a firm has been arrested for illegally selling rooms of his tenants in a dilapidated building in south Mumbai reported news agency PTIThe properties were sold for around Rs 280 crore the police said while sharing an update on the Mumbai crimeThe accused Shikharchand Hanumantraj Jain is a partner in Rishi Enterprises Other alleged accused identified as Premlata Shikharchand Jain Narendra Kumar Hanumantraj Sanghavi and Hastimal Kataria are yet to be arrested reported PTIA court had ordered the tenants Kamladevi Gupta 86 and Navalkishore Gupta 67 to vacate the property a police official said while sharing an update on the Mumbai crime reported PTIShikharchand allegedly assured the Guptas that he would rebuild the fivestorey structure and hand it over to them However he illegally sold the property to another personThe possession of the property was handed over to Shikharchand Jain and Premlata Jain and two NOC holders in November 2021All four accused were booked on charges of cheating and forgery and under the provisions of the Maharashtra Rent Control ActGroup loses over Rs 4 lakh in online scam while booking flights tents for Kumbh MelaA businesswoman and her friend collectively lost Rs 425 lakh after they were duped online in their bid to book flight and tent tickets for the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj police said on TuesdayThe complainant who runs a furniture business planned to visit Prayagraj with her husband on 7 February She searched online and found a website that provided a contact number for tent booking an official saidAfter she called the number she received a WhatsApp message from another representative asking for the names and Aadhaar details of the six travellers The scammer also sent a property catalogue stating that two VIP tents could be booked upon payment he saidThe 55yearold woman transferred Rs 35000 to an account listed as UP State Tourism II as a tent booking fee The next day the scammer offered discounted flight tickets for Rs 261990 for six passengers He requested full payment upfront along with Aadhaar details the police official saidThe complainant then transferred Rs 1 lakh from her bank account while her friend who was part of the group transferred Rs 75000 On February 10 they made additional payments of Rs 30500 from the complainants account and Rs 90500 from her friends accountDespite paying a total of Rs 378 lakh the fraudster claimed that the flight tickets were cancelled due to a delayed payment and demanded over Rs 93000 for rebooking The woman sent Rs 47000 more but her friend refused further payment and requested a refund When no tickets or booking confirmations arrived and the scammer stopped responding the victims realised they had been duped The WhatsApp number was switched offWith inputs from PTI