Mumbai: A case has been registered against six persons, including a couple, under Charkop police station limits for duping a businesswoman of Rs 2.45 crore. The complainant, Pooja Vikhare, aged 48, who runs a garment shop and supplies sports equipment, lodged a complaint against the six for not making payments worth Rs 2.45 crore for the items purchased from her shop between 2018 and 2021.
According to the complainant, she was introduced to one Rohan Wadkar in 2018. Wadkar used to work in the marketing department of a private company and used to order T-shirts from Vikhare's garments. In 2019 Wadkar told Vikhare, he had many customers, who wanted to buy sports materials and clothes from her shop, and that they would place the orders themselves. Wadkar had told her that he would ensure that she got the payments.
Wadkar started buying clothes and sports equipment from Vikhare. Initially, the payments were made on time, but from October 2019 onwards, Wadkar started delaying. He purchased the clothes and cricket equipment, but did not make any payment. On March 24, 2020, business came to a standstill due to the lockdown imposed in the wake of the Covid pandemic. When Vikahe asked Wadkar about the dues, he told her that it was his responsibility to clear the pending money.
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After the lockdown was lifted, Vikhare again started running the business and Wadkar began buying clothes and sports materials. When Vikhare demanded money, Wadkar said people were suffering from financial losses due to the pandemic, but assured that pending dues will be cleared. Wadkar was supposed to pay Rs 70 lakhs for clothes and sports equipment when the lockdown ended in August 2020. After this, Wadkar introduced a person named Sanjay Patil to Vikhare as a cricket coach of a big organisation. Patil bought clothes and sports equipment worth Rs 7.41 lakhs from Vikhare.
Later, Wadkar's wife Durva, too, bought clothes and sports equipment worth Rs 21.46 lakhs from Vikhare. This apart, three other persons claiming to be coaches bought clothes and sports equipment worth lakhs of rupees. Later, Wadkar also purchased clothes and sports equipment worth Rs 56 lakhs. Wadkar, his wife, and the four other persons he introduced to Vikhare had a combined outstanding dues of Rs 2.45 crore.
When Vikhare asked for this amount, Wadkar wrote on a hundred rupee stamp paper that he would return all the money. In her statement to the police, Vikhare said Wadkar lived was a rented house and after she asked him for money, they left the house and went somewhere else. Apart from this, she also learned that the four people, who claimed to be cricket coaches, were fake trainers.
