Mumbai: When a 34-year-old doctor learnt from his friend that he purchased an Audi A-6 at ₹25 lakh, (priced at ₹63 lakh in the showrooms), he couldn’t help but get in touch with the seller to crack the deal. Little did he know that his dream of owning a luxury car would turn into a nightmare.
The doctor, who works with a municipal hospital in the city was cheated by the dealer to the tune of ₹25 lakh. Police officials said the fraud has cheated several people using a similar modus operandi. They said initially, he had given cars to some people at cheap rates to gain confidence and later took money from people and did not give them the cars.
The police said the doctor had even paid an RTO agent to get the registration number of his choice for the vehicle.
It all started when Dr Roshan Jha, 34, a resident of Borivali West, posted as a medical officer at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Municipal Hospital in Kandivali West heard from his friend and colleague Dr Narsingh Ram, a resident of Santacruz, that he purchased an Audi A-6 from a dealer Prashant Chaudhari, a resident of Kurar village in Malad West.
Ram told him that he only paid ₹25 lakh for the vehicle when the showroom price of the high-end car was ₹63 lakh.
“Ram suggested to Jha that he should meet Chaudhari. And accordingly, Jha met him to finalise a deal. After a few meetings, he agreed to deliver an Audi A-6 at ₹34 lakh to Jha,” said a police officer from the Kandivli police station.
Dr Jha paid the final price of ₹34 lakh, as per the deal to buy the A-6 and also got in touch with an agent from the RTO and paid him ₹15,000 for a fancy number of his choice.
Chaudhari was supposed to deliver the vehicle to him by September 21, last year, but failed to do so. He later said that he will deliver the vehicle on Diwali, however, could not fulfil the commitment as well.
“Later, Chaudhari started avoiding Jha and giving evasive answers. When persisted, he gave the doctor two cheques for ₹20 lakh each. When Jha decided to deposit them, he told him there was no money in his bank account, and even stopped payment of it,” said a police officer.
The doctor said, after follow-ups, Chaudhari repaid ₹9 lakh in cash to him, but did not return the remaining ₹25 lakh.
It turns out that an FIR was registered against Chaudhari for fraud and he was in Pimpri Chinchwad, hiding from the police. He was arrested in June by the L T Marg police, this year.
Just like Jha, Chaudhari also duped an imitation jewellery owner in South Mumbai, by promising him a Mercedes Benz GLC 200, the price of which in 2021 was ₹73 lakh in 30% discount.
Chaudhari is presently lodged in Arthur Road Jail. The officer, who interrogated him, found that he started by keeping his promise and delivered cars at cheap rates to a few people, who spread the word in the market. However, later he started committing fraud and was found to be dealing with a businessman, to persuade him to purchase ten Jaguar cars at affordable rates. He wanted to cheat too but got caught by the police.