Mumbai: A 32-year-old man from Goa was arrested for allegedly duping Marathi singer Ashok Nikalje of ₹2.5 lakh by posing as an IPS officer and promising him an invitation to a high-profile musical event as a guest.
The accused, Yallappa Kolkar, a resident of Belgaum in Karnataka, has previous cases registered against him in Solapur, where he duped several people using a similar modus operandi.
According to Tilak Nagar police, on October 14, the singer received a phone call from the accused who introduced himself as IPS officer Hanif Shaikh.
“The caller told Nikalje that he organised a high-profile musical event in Belgaum and wanted to invite him as a guest and promised to pay ₹5 lakh to him for attending the event,” said senior inspector Sunil Kale.
The accused also sent a message to NEFT in which it was promised that an amount of ₹5 lakh would be credited to the singer’s account in three days. The accused later called Nikalje and informed him that he wanted to invite another singer- Pravin Gasti to the event.
“However, the accused said that he would not speak to him and gave Nikalje a mobile number claiming to be Gasti’s contact and requested him to invite him for the programme and pay him whatever he wished to charge,” added the officer.
The complainant dialled the number, which was another mobile number of Kolkar. The accused spoke to him and told him that he would take 50% in advance. The victim thought that since an amount of ₹5 lakh would be credited to his bank account in three days, he transferred an amount of ₹2.5 lakh to the account of the accused in three transactions.
The accused thereafter informed the complainant that he would soon give him the final date of the programme, but later stopped responding to his calls. The complainant then discussed the issue with friends and learnt that he was duped by fraud.
He then approached the Tilak Nagar police in the last week of October and a case was registered based on his complaint last month.
“During the probe, we found a bank account number belonging to two taxi drivers from Goa. The police also learnt that the accused convinced the drivers that he lost his phone in which he saved his bank account details, and used their bank details to get the amounts transferred from the singer. Later, he withdrew the money from the bank accounts of the taxi drivers,” added the officer.
A police team managed to get the hotel address, where Kolkar was staying and traced him on Sunday and brought him to the city on Monday, Kale added.