A young trader from Bhopal, who dreamt of expanding his clothing business through e-commerce, has allegedly been cheated of nearly Rs 19 lakh by two men in Mumbai under the pretext of supplying wholesale men’s wear.
The complainant, Bhavesh Kishore Kumar Sadwani, 22, runs a clothes shop in Bhopal. In his statement to the police, he alleged that he befriended a man named Rehan Siddiqui on Instagram about a year ago. When Sadwani expressed interest in sourcing bulk clothes from Mumbai, Siddiqui assured him of contacts in the trade.
In April, Sadwani travelled to Mumbai, where Siddiqui introduced him to his associate Tohit Khan near Sahara Junction in Kurla West. “Khan told me that I would get maximum discounts if I paid in cash. He said that even if I transferred the money online, he could arrange to withdraw it in cash through his contacts. Trusting them, I agreed,” Sadwani said in his complaint.
A few weeks later, Sadwani was told to transfer money to place orders. Between May 2 and May 3, Sadwani and his relatives deposited around Rs 13.75 lakh into various bank accounts provided by Khan and Siddiqui, via Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe and IMPS. In addition, Rehan handed over R5.25 lakh in cash to Khan, who claimed his bank account had been temporarily frozen.
However, no consignment of clothes ever arrived. Khan began avoiding calls and gave excuses, claiming he was in Bengaluru. Eventually, he stopped responding altogether. Sadwani, who lives with his parents and elder sister in Bhopal, finally approached the Vinoba Bhave (VB) Nagar police station in Kurla, alleging that Khan had siphoned off Rs 18.99 lakh under the guise of a bulk clothes deal. The police registered a cheating case and are probing the financial trail of the accused.
