Ashok Kumar Madhusudhan Jayswal (42) and Amir Ul Islam Mohammed Abu Shahid alias A K Mukharjee (42) (both residents of Anandpura area in Calcutta), who were arrested in Calcutta recently, were brought to Pune on Thursday. Remanded to a 14-day-long police custody, they are being interrogated by inspector in-charge of Bund Garden police station Vishwas Patil and sub inspector Satish Shinde.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Jagan Nath said Jayswal and Mukharjee have admitted during interrogations that they had duped businessmen from Mumbai, Chennai, Alahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Ahemadabad also. The total amount involved is expected to be over Rs 2 crore, he added.

Jagan Nath said, the duo used to approach their victims while posing as wholesale dealers in various commodities like building material, photocopying machines and ball bearings. They allegedly used to invite their victims for a meeting under the garb of selling these commodities at cheaper rates. During such meetings, Jagan Nath said, they used to engage the victim's attention in conversation and steal his money.

According to the police, Mukharjee owns two boutiques in Calcutta while Jayswal is a construction contractor. They took up to duping businessman after a gang duped Mukharjee under the garb of selling garments at cheaper rates about five years ago, Jagan Nath said.

The Bund Garden police were searching for the duo ever since they duped Thite and his business partner R Ramesh from Bangalore to the tune of Rs 16.50 lakh at a posh hotel near Pune Railway Station under the garb of selling photocopy machine spare parts at cheaper rates in June.