Gang dupes Nanded man of ₹30L, kidnap him, extort ₹10L more

MUMBAI: A Nanded resident alleged that he was conned of ₹30 lakh by seven people, including his acquaintances, on the pretext of donating his educational society crores of rupees, in December, 2022.

The victim, identified as Rahul Kuruntkar, also claimed that he was kidnapped by the accused who threatened to kill him. As a result, he was forced to shell out another ₹20 lakh as ransom.

The Sahar police on Tuesday registered an offence based on Kuruntkar’s complaint. The complainant is a marketing executive in Nanded and also owns Kuruntkar Education Society.

Kuruntkar’s acquaintances - Akash Rudrakanthwar, Sumesh Tiwari and his wife Neha Khedkar - who hail from Nanded but work in Pune, approached Kuruntkar about a possible donation from a corporate body for his education trust.

“They also told me that there was a condition to this donation – the amount they give to the trust needs to be returned in smaller amounts back to the company. In exchange, they would provide a percentage of the returned amount as commission to the trust,” the complainant told the police.

Unconvinced about the nature of the transaction, when Karuntkar kept refusing the offer, his friends asked him to visit them in Pune to discuss the matter in person. Kuruntkar said he reached Pune on November 29, 2022, and together they reached Mumbai and checked into a hotel in Vile Parle.

The three friends then introduced Kuruntkar to Tejas, Sonal Gunjan, Vishal and Ganesh Shinde – who would play a part in the nefarious plan.

“At the hotel where we all met, Shinde explained the plan in detail saying that if the company parks ₹240 crores in my account, the trust would get around ₹20 crore,” he said in his police statement. However, in order to avail of the benefit, he would have to pay ₹20 lakh to the company first.

“After he became confident of the legitimacy of the deal, Kuruntkar paid ₹20 lakh as discussed next day,” said an official from Sahar police station. As security, the company representative also gave him some signed blank cheques from their corporate account, the officer added.

All of them then checked into another hotel to stay the night, stated the FIR registered by the police. It also stated that the cheques were kept in a safe in another room as the one Kuruntkar was staying in didn’t have one.

“The next morning, we all met in Bandra Kurla Complex for documentation work. During this process, Sumesh presented the cheques that I thought were still in the hotel safe. After returning to the hotel, I was told that my trust did not qualify for participating in the plan and that the amount I have paid will not be returned either,” Kuruntkar told the police.

The police said that the others somehow convinced Kuruntkar to try again by paying another ₹20 lakh. “He paid ₹10 lakh the next day. After that, they checked his organisation’s documents again and gave another reason for rejecting the deal,” said the police.

Subsequently, Kuruntkar started asking the company representatives to return all the money he had paid them. “Things then got heated up, and I was assaulted by Sumesh and Vishal. I was pushed into a black car by Shinde and his bodyguard. He forced me to call my brother to transfer the remaining ₹10 lakh. He threatened to kill me and throw my body in the sea if I didn’t do as directed,” the complainant told the police.

The car in which Kuruntkar was restricted moved throughout the city for a few hours. He then made the call to his brother for transferring ₹10 lakh for his release. The police also said that after receiving the money, Shinde made the complainant sign some blank papers as well. Subsequently, he was dropped off at Vile Parle.

While the incident happened in early December, the complainant said he was pressurised by the accused to not get the police involved. However, after mustering the courage to report the incident, he finally approached the Sahar police on Tuesday.

“We have booked all those named by the complainant for hatching a criminal conspiracy against him. They have also been booked for kidnapping, demanding ransom, cheating and criminal intimidation among other offences. Further investigation in the matter is underway,” said the officer from Sahar police.