In a shocking incident, two individuals were duped of approximately ₹1.75 crore by a 15-member gang under the pretext of providing a ₹30 crore fund for school construction and a loan for home and office building expenses. The Borivali Police have registered a case of fraud against 15 directors of the Gajanan Cooperative Credit Society and other accused.
The accused include Rajani Rajan Deshpande, Jitendra Kokreja, Sushim Gaikwad, Popat Mule, Nikam Patil, Mohammad Aziz, Jayashree Bhoj, Amit Mehta, Suvarna Barekar, Bharat Babu Rangare, Anand Swami, and four others. The police have arrested society director Rajani Deshpande and launched a search operation to nab the other absconding accused.
According to the police, the complainant, Rajkumar Aniruddha Ghadge, a resident of Degav, Pandharpur, Solapur, and a farmer, runs a private educational institution with a school in his village. Ghadge needed financial assistance for school construction. During this period, he came into contact with Rajani Deshpande and other accused, who were members and promoters of Gajanan Cooperative Credit Society, located at Charkop, Satyanagar, Shivdham Shivkripa Society in Kandivali.
The accused assured him of arranging a ₹30 crore fund for his school construction and took ₹94.75 lakh as processing charges. Similarly, they promised Vaibhav Kadam, a friend of Ghadge, a ₹4 crore loan for building a home and office and collected ₹80.25 lakh from him.
In total, the accused collected ₹1.75 crore from both individuals under the false promise of providing a fund and a loan. However, despite the deadline, neither the fund nor the loan was provided. When the victims sought an explanation, the accused started avoiding them.
Realizing they had been defrauded, the victims approached the Borivali Police Station and filed a complaint. Upon investigation, the police registered a case of fraud and embezzlement against Rajani Deshpande and four others. During interrogation, Rajani’s involvement in the crime was confirmed, leading to her immediate arrest.
The police have launched a special search operation to arrest the other absconding accused. Further investigation is underway.