Nagpur: Three grain traders and their servants from Nagpur cheated 21 rice mill owners to the tune of Rs 1.56 crore. Shockingly, even after the death of the main accused, the co-accused continued buying rice from the mill owners. Sakkardara police have registered a case and are probing the matter.
The accused have been identified as Amit Vijay Banabokode (38), Sahdev Gosavi, Kishan Sudesh Gosavi, a resident of Darshan Colony, Nandanvan; Sahil Pramod Mate (18), a resident of Ishwar Nagar and Sagar Prabhakar Paraye (26), a resident of Pawanshakti Nagar. Banabokode, the main accused, died on February 26.
The police have arrested Mate and Paraye so far. According to police, Banabakode owns a shop named Balaji & Company on Umred Road. He used to deal in buying and selling rice. The complainant Sachin Lakshminarayan Agarwal (38), a resident of Mahajanpura, Pardi, had come in contact with Banabokode through a friend. Banabakode gained confidence of the rice mill operators by making quick payments for the rice purchased initially. Later he purchased 445 tonnes of rice from 21 different rice mills between January 17 and February 27, but did not pay them.
When they tried to contact him, Banabakode was not responding to the calls, Agrawal went to his shop and godown and found that all the goods were vacated. Later, he learnt that Banabakode died on February 26. Even after his death, the co-accused ordered rice the next day. Gosavi brothers, who worked with Banabakode, along with their servants Sahil and Sagar, took away the goods from the godown, police said.
Investigations revealed that after Banabakode’s death, his servants ordered the goods from mill owners using the phone.
Sakkardara PSI Mohankar registered an offence under Sections 406, 420 and 34 of Indian Penal Code and launched a probe into the matter.
