Victim helps cops arrest conman

Sehgal loaned him Rs 50,000, after which he told her he had started an agency in providing mobile phones and he could give her a discount on a group booking, she said. Since he promised to deliver the phones within two weeks, she and 50 other advocates formed a group and raised Rs 17.5 lakh, which was given to him in February 1997. One of the reasons Sehgal didn’t suspect him was that he was staying in a huge flat at Charni Road, which he said was his, but which belonged to his uncle. But thephones didn’t come till July 1997, and when Sehgal demanded the money back, Mehta gave her two cheques of Rs two and three lakh each. Both cheques bounced, and Mehta suddenly disappeared from his home around the same time. When, in January this year, Sehgal approached his family, his parents told her they had thrown him out, while his wife Sejal said she didn’t know his whereabouts. Sehgal registered a complaint with the crime branch, and the case was transferred to Chembur police.

Police got a tip-off last week that Mehta’s parents were to go to Delhi, and a police team was formed to follow them. Since Sehgal could identify Mehta, she too joined the team, and wore a burkha to conceal her identity.

The police team comprised sub-inspector Praful Bhingarde and constables Shahu Surve, Pawar and Pagar, and they took the same train Mehta’s parents had boarded. When Mehta’s parents got off at Nizamuddin, the squad followed them to their house and nabbed Mehta and his wife Sejal, who were hiding there.The duo was brought to Mumbai on Thursday night. Sehgal said she had to sell her jewellery and mortgage her house to pay the money of some members in the group of telephone buyers. “Since I had suggested the scheme, the members said I was responsible for returning their money,” she said. This made her determined to catch the conman, she added.