Pune: An FIR has been registered against four men in Pune for committing fraud with around 100 people and embezzling a total of Rs 6 crore on the pretext of selling 'rice puller' machines to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a premier space agency of the United States.
Babasaheb Narahari Sonawane (50), a resident of Shivparvati Society in Hadapsar area of the city, lodged an FIR in this connection at Bundgarden police station on Tuesday. Police have booked four accused identified as Ram Gaikwad, Ramchandra Waghmare, Santosh Sapkal, and Rahul Jadhav under sections 406, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120b, 34 of IPC and sections of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors Act.
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According to police, since June 2018, the accused persons allegedly lured many people to invest into the business of selling "rice puller machines" to NASA, claiming that it would give huge returns. The accused allegedly claimed that researchers from NASA would be coming to India for this purpose. The accused also allegedly held meetings with the investors at a hotel in Sadhu Vaswani chowk area near Pune railway station.
Police said the accused lured people by saying "rice puller metal" has huge demand. Several persons invested money in the business, but never got the returns they were assured. Nearly a hundred investors also filed complaints at the economic offences wing (EOW) of Pune city police. After conducting an inquiry into these complaints, an FIR was lodged. Assistant police inspector Anand Ruikar of EOW is probing the case.
