‘Doctor’ conman flees with his driver’s SUV, splurges ₹2 lakh from victim’s credit card

When 41-year-old Dilip Jha was hired as a chauffeur for a ‘doctor’ last year weeks after buying his car, he imagined a steady income would help his family. But a few months into a job, his employer ran away with his car and splurged ₹2 lakh from the man’s credit card too. The CBD Belapur police have registered a case of cheating against the accused.

Jha, a resident of Koparkhairane, runs a mobile repairing shop. In March last year, he bought a second hand SUV to drive as a tourist vehicle. A few weeks later, through a friend, Jha met Dr. Isa Nanda. Jha later learnt that Nanda was not a doctor and once lived in Bandra (East) as Ismail Khan.

Nanda asked Jha if he would work for him as a driver. After driving him around over the next two months, Nanda asked him to work for him full time as a chauffeur. Since Jha owned the car, Nanda agreed to pay him Rs 50,000 as monthly rent for the vehicle along with ₹20,000 salary and hired him for a year.

Less than a month since Jha was hired full time, on July 13, Nanda called him near Konkan Bhavan in CBD Belapur. Nanda was accompanied by his wife whom Jha knew as Daraksha Khan. Nanda allegedly told him that he is going to take the car for a few days out of state and return it later. Trusting him, Jha agreed.

“The accused told Jha he would soon return the car but kept giving him evasive replies. He went to Chandigarh and then to Gujarat before he eventually switched off his phone,” said an officer from CBD Belapur police station.

Jha was in contact with Nanda till October 1, when he promised to send the car back from Gujarat. But the car never arrived and Jha has not heard from him since. While he submitted a complaint with the police in October, his statement was recorded then but a case was only registered on Friday.

“During my time of employment, I did not speak much as I was only a driver. Nanda alias Khan had claimed he owns more than 30 medical stores across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai and also runs a pharmaceutical company. I used to drop him at various locations in both cities,” Jha said.

Police said they suspect Nanda to be a habitual offender who may have conned more people in a similar way.

“We have received information that he was lodged in Thane jail and was out of bail. He also has a few cases against him, but due to lockdown, we are yet to make proper headway in the case. We are on the lookout for him,” said the officer.