Man dupes car buyer of Rs 1.5 lakh, arrested

Naidu alleged that when he told Bennurkar that he wanted to buy a car, the latter told him that he worked for a Hyundai showroom and could get him a car worth Rs 6 lakh for just Rs 3 lakh

The Kasturba Marg police arrested a 21-year-old man from Kolhapur on Friday for allegedly cheating the son of an employee of the Tata Power House by promising him to get him a car at half its market value.

Police said in August last year, a 21-year-old man identified as Murli Venugopal Naidu had lodged a complaint that he was cheated of Rs 1.5 lakh by a car dealer who had promised to sell him a Hyundai i20 car for Rs 3 lakh.

Naidu stated he had met the accused, identified as Umesh Dinkar Bennurkar, a resident of Kohlad in Belgaum, through a friend.

Naidu alleged that when he told Bennurkar that he wanted to buy a car, the latter told him that he could get him a car worth

Rs 6 lakh for just Rs 3 lakh. He, however, allegedly told Naidu that he would have to keep it a secret as he did not want others to approach him for a similar deal.

On August 18 last year, Bennurkar allegedly took Naidu to a showroom and booked an i20 car for Rs 25,000. Later, he allegedly made Naidu sign an agreement telling him that he worked for the showroom and could deliver the car to him for a lesser amount.

"Umesh subsequently fled. He had switched off his mobile phone. However, in November, Umesh called up Naidu and told him that owing to some problems, he could not deliver the car from Mumbai. He said that the car's rate had increased and Naidu needed to pay Rs 1.5 lakh to him. He gave Naidu an account number of his friend and asked him to deposit the cash and he would get the delivery of the car from Kolhapur," said inspector S Raorane.

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