Mumbai: Dealer of used high-end cars held for duping buyers of Rs 1.5 crore paid as advance – Times of India

MUMBAI: A car dealer who took bookings of high-end cars under the pretext of offering a huge discount on price and allegedly duped several businessmen to the tune of Rs 1.50 crore has been arrested by Mumbai police. The LT Marg police on Thursday arrested Malad resident Prashant Babulal Choudhary (32) from Pimpri-Chinchwad where he was hiding since police registered an FIR of cheating in January this year.
Though he has allegedly duped many, a complaint has been filed by the owner of an imitation jewellery showroom in south Mumbai. The complainant was keen to buy a Mercedes Benz GLC 200 and asked his manager to get a quotation and other details from.
The price of new brand GL 200 Mercedes in 2021 was Rs 72 to 73 lakh. He was ultimately put in touch with Choudhary, a second-hand car dealer. In August 2021, Choudhary met the buyer and assured help to get the said model at 30% less price than the market rate.
Prashant Choudhary told the interested buyer that he would get the car for Rs 54 lakh and he handed over a cheque of Rs 30 lakh and the balance Rs 24 lakh was to be paid at the time of delivery, said a police officer. The buyer handed over a cheque of Rs 30 lakh to Choudhary drawn in the name of his auto dealership company. A few weeks later, when the buyer called up Choudhary to inquire, he came up with some excuses to buy time.
In December 2021, Choudhary told the buyer that the car was ready to be delivered and they needed to pay another Rs 8 lakh and the rest of the amount of Rs 16 lakh at the time of delivery. The buyer handed over another cheque of Rs 8 lakhs to Choudhary, said the police. However, even after a fortnight when the car was not delivered, the buyer called up and asked Choudhary to return Rs 38 lakh that he had paid up.
Choudhary handed over a cheque of Rs 38 lakhs which bounced due to lack of funds in his account. And when the complainant called him, he gave evasive replies and subsequently did not take his calls and thus he learnt that Choudhary had duped him and he lodged an FIR.
When police started a probe it transpired that Choudhary had similarly duped another businessman, Jitendra Shah, of Rs 18.50 lakh to help him buy nother car, Also, another businessman Alpesh Kubdiya had been duped of Rs 57 lakh promising him a BMW GT-6 series at a cheaper rate, said the police.
Choudhary was arrested and the police are checking how many others he may have cheated, said other officer.
DCP Neelotpal said that the investigations show that the accused has cheated several people and siphoned off the money by transferring into different accounts.