Thane, Nov 30 (PTI) Police have arrested a man in Maharashtra's Thane district for allegedly cheating a local jeweller of Rs 27.5 lakh by gaining his trust with a fake cheque, officials said on Sunday.
The accused, from the Bhayander area, befriended the 57-year-old jeweller through an online real estate marketplace in July and gained his trust by giving a cheque of Rs 66 lakh as an advance payment towards the purchase of a flat from him.
After winning the victim's confidence, the accused bought gold jewellery valued at Rs 27.5 lakh from him without making any payment, and then issued a stop-payment instruction for the cheque issued earlier for the property deal, a police release said.
Based on the jeweller's complaint, the Bhayander police registered a case against the accused on September 16 under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 318(4) (cheating) and 316(2) (criminal breach of trust).
The accused later hid his identity and frequently changed locations to Delhi, Noida and Mumbai to evade arrest, it said.
The police finally traced him to a hotel in Thane city and arrested him from there on November 27, the release said.
The accused is a habitual offender, with cases of cheating already registered against him in Thane and Mumbai and some dating back to 2000, the police added. PTI COR GK
