Fake ‘Public Prosecutor’defrauds seven of nearly Rs 10 crore, booked

Trusting her, victims paid her and her two sons nearly Rs 10 crores, but did not get a single gram of the promised gold. They have not been refunded their money either, the police said.

The accused Shweta Badgujar, Akshay Desai, Darshan Desai and Swati Jaavkar have been booked by the DN Nagar police station on Thursday on the complaint of Nutan Ayre (50), a resident of Andheri West.

Ayre, who runs a corporate gifting company, met Badgujar through a common friend Jaavkar, who she knew since 2014.

In January 2023, Jaavkar introduced Badgujar to Ayre. Badgujar claimed herself to be a public prosecutor from Mumbai sessions court and also told Ayre that her brother Piyush Pradhan was working in a senior position in the customs department, the police complaint said.

Badgujar told Ayre that using her brother’s influence she can help her buy gold at a cheaper rate from the Customs department’s gold auction.

Convinced, Ayre sold her ornaments and transferred money to Badgujar. Badgujar returned the money and Ayre made a profit, which grew her trust in Badgujar.

After gaining Ayre’s trust Badgujar told her that the customs department was soon going to auction 3 bricks of 10 kg gold each, against a price of Rs 15 crore which was way cheaper than the market price. But, Badgujar told them that they could participate only if they pay in cash, reads the FIR.
On Badgujar and Jaavkar’s insistence, Ayre convinced her six friends and relatives to give money to Badgujar to purchase the gold bricks.

Between January-September 2023, Ayre and six others paid a total of Rs 9.86 crore. This amount was accepted by the accused persons. However, the victims neither got the promised gold nor their money back.

“Initially Badgujar kept buying time to repay us, but later when we would ask her about our money she threatened us saying that she would commit suicide along with her daughter and hold us responsible in the suicide note. She also threatened to falsely implicate us with drugs or other police cases claiming she had strong influence among police officers,” Ayre stated in the FIR.

“Later when we obtained more details about her past we discovered that she has similarly defrauded many people using aliases such as Kavita Deepak Desai and Smita Deepak Desai,” Ayre added in her statement.

It has been alleged in the complaint that the Jaavkar also helped the Badgujar in the fraud.
Badgujar and three others have been booked under sections 170 (impersonation), 420 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Badgujar is already facing two cases of similar frauds registered against her in 2015, said a police officer.