The Crime Branch of Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday arrested a woman and her son and launched a manhunt to nab another couple who defrauded a businessman dealing in dry fruits of crores of rupee, police said.
“Crime Branch of Jammu conducted a series of raids and finally arrested the duo in a fraud case of Rs 6.50 crores. The woman and her son have been identified as Shakeela and Tousef Bhatt, residents of Mughal Masjid Hawal Srinagar,” a police spokesperson.
The two had been changing their locations frequently to evade arrest, he added.
The police action came following a complaint by a businessman named Raees Ahmad who owns Wals Walnuts Industries in Jammu.
“The complainant had stated that he started fruit business at Fruit Mandi Narwal and also had a factory at Bathindi in Jammu in the name Wals Walnuts Industries. One Reyaz Ahmed Mattoo along with his wife Ruqaya approached him and claimed that they were also in dry fruit business and their firm was named ‘Sadaf Dry Fruit’ at Vidhata Nagar Bathindi in Jammu. Consequently, Reyaz started taking consignments from the complainant and initially made payments to win his trust,” said the spokesman.
“One day Mattoo told the complainant that he had received a huge Army contract and a lot of dry fruits are required to be supplied to the Army. It was actually a trap for Raees, who supplied huge quantity of dry fruits worth crores of rupees. Soon, Mattoo and his wife shifted to Srinagar and went underground,” he said.
The complainant traced Mattoo, who issued him cheques worth Rs. 1,45,50,000 but they were dishonored by the banks.The accused again went into hiding.
During the course of investigations it was established that Tousef Ahmed Bhat of Mugal Musjid Hawal in Srinagar was main conspirator who hatched the conspiracy with Matto and his wife Ruqaya to dupe Raees.
With Raees’ money, Matto purchased a land in the name of his wife Ruqya and constructed a building on it and after some time transferred it in the name of Shakeela Begum.
Both Shakeela and Tousef Bhat have been sent on seven days police remand by a local court.
The Crime Branch carried out searches at their places of hiding and seized mobile phones, debit cards and other documents.
“The accused are being questioned to ascertain the modus operandi of crime and other aspects related to the case,” said the spokesman.
Crime Branch officials are now hunting for Matto and Ruqaya who are still at large.