Man cheats friend of ₹42L after fudging cheque amount

Navi Mumbai

A civil contractor, who gave a cheque of ₹2 lakh to a construction businessman was cheated of ₹42 lakh after the latter allegedly added the digit ‘four’ before the amount and encashed the cheque.

In October 2016, Munyaswami Nadar, 56, had taken a loan of ₹2 lakh from S Jagannathan, a construction firm proprietor. At the time of borrowing the money, Nadar issued Jagannathan an undated cheque with ₹2 lakh written only in numerical figure.

Nadar and Jagannathan would often borrow money from each other for their business, said police. In January, Jagannathan approached Nadar and asked him to loan him ₹5 lakh. “On February 20, I got someone to transfer ₹5 lakh to Jagannathan’s account. But on the same day, I received a message in the evening that ₹42 lakh was withdrawn from my account,” Nadar told the Kopar Khairane police in his complaint.

Nadar contacted his bank which informed him that the amount was transferred to Jagannathan’s account.

“The complainant has alleged that Jagannathan forged the ₹2 lakh cheque and added the extra digit,” said an officer from Kopar Khairane police station. The police have registered a case of cheating against Jagannathan. No arrest has been made.