Retired naval commander booked in Rs8 lakh cheating case

A retired naval commander was booked for cheating a man on the pretext of a job offer as an unskilled labourer at the naval dockyard. The Cuffe Parade police said the retired commander, along with his daughter, cheated the aspirant of Rs8 lakh in 2012.

The police are not ruling out the possibility of this being part of a larger job racket in the naval dockyard.

An officer from the Cuffe Parade police station, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The aspirant Adhinath Kale got a call from the naval dockyard in 2012 and was asked to be present for the selection process. He met the commander in the dockyard itself, where he was asked to pay Rs8 lakh for the job of an unskilled labourer.”

In the same year, Kale allegedly gave the commander Rs5 lakh in a hotel at Colaba, and after three days, the remaining Rs3 lakh was collected by his daughter, he said.

An officer said, “After that the accused began ignoring his calls. The aspirant, who is a Dombivli resident, had registered a complaint with the police sand following investigations a case was registered.”

“The ex-navy man originally hails from Rajasthan, but as we got his Gurgaon address, we have summoned him for a statement,” said another officer.

Senior police inspector Rashmi Jadhav from Cuffe Parade police station confirmed a case has been registered against the commander.

The accused has been booked under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).