Trio defrauds Kotak Mahindra of 48 lakh

AUGUST 15: Three persons were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch last week for allegedly duping Kotak Mahindra Limited to the tune of Rs 48.17 lakh.

Jayant Rajguru, Deepak Sayar and Bipin Bhat have been remanded to police custody till August 24 by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, of the 37th court , A A Kidwai. According to the remand application, Rajguru had approached Kotak Mahindra for hiring heavy vehicles in March 1997. To support his claim, Rajguru showed documents of his firm Jayant Roadlines and claimed to own three trucks. Rajguru convinced Kotak Mahindra that his company was financially sound and persuaded them to enter into eight transactions for the hire and purchase of the vehicles.

Kotak Mahindra issued eight cheques amounting to Rs 48.17 lakh to Rajguru in the name of Sterling Motors after he produced performa invoices and other papers for the purchase of two TELCO trucks. Rajguru, in connivance with Sayar and Bhat, then deposited the cheques into banks andafter withdrawing the money, closed the accounts. The accounts were found to be false and in the name of Sterling Motors.

Investigations revealed that the papers Rajguru had submitted were forged RTO documents and perfoma invoices, and that the vehicles in question were never purchased.