Nagpur: The notorious swindler and mastermind of an interstate gang of tricksters, Vinod Kalyani, who was arrested, jailed and bailed out often, has again made a trader his victim and decamped with Rs 6 lakh he was asked to deposit in bank.
The mastermind who is no less than the ill-famed trickster Natwarlal had looted goods worth lakhs of rupees from many hardware traders of the city and other states like Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in a very planned manner.
Failure on the part of police of solid action, the “business” of the notorious criminal is thriving. The Hansapuri-resident Vinod Bhagwandas Kalyani (27) was earlier Vice President of BJP’s Hansapuri Prabhag. But when he was booked on the charges of duping, he was expelled from the party. However, recently Vinod Kalyani was on the verge of to be included in an Aghadi of the party but for the stiff resistance from other leaders, he failed to make it.
The latest victim of the fraudster is a Central Avenue-based chemical trader Rajesh Sangtani. Vinod Kalyani was able to secure a job at Sangtani’s firm courtesy some known persons. But apparently Sangtani was not aware of the past history Kalyani. With the glib talking and “decent” behavior, the trickster soon won the confidence of Sangtani. Now Sangtani started assigning Kalyani the job of depositing money in banks. On Monday last, Sangtani as usual gave Rs 6 lakh to Kalyani for depositing in a bank. But the fraudster never reached the bank and decamped with the amount, coolly. Sangtani sensed something amiss when Kalyani did not return even after a considerable time. His cellphone was also found switched off. The panicky Sangtani reached the house of Kalyani in Hansapuri but the relatives divulged no information. Finally, the victimized trader lodged a complaint with Tehsil police and also narrated the ordeal to known persons. At this time Sangtani came to know the ugly face of the master fraudster.
Notably, the notorious criminal is in the swindling business since years. His victims hailed from various parts of the country including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The modus-operandi of Kalyani was that he would contact hardware traders, mainly those who dealt in cement, bricks, ply-wood or marble stones required for construction, and place a bulk order. They would also display some site where construction of some other builder is already on. He would ask the trader to deliver the goods at that site. The trader too would send the goods and once satisfied that such a big construction is on, he wouldn’t mind taking a cheque for the amount of goods supplied. One of the gang members would be at that site and would hand-over the cheque to transporter or the official from the hardware trader’s business establishment. Soon after the transporter leaves the spot, another vehicle is brought to the site and the goods are loaded onto the other vehicle and they would sell the construction material at cheaper rate to some unwitting builder who buys these goods (just because it is not only cheaper but is transported free of cost).
Kalyani had robbed a mobile phone trader of Sadar of Rs 6-7 lakh two years back. Similarly, a Wardhaman Nagar trader too was his victim with amount being Rs 2 lakh. Most of the cell phone traders in Sitabuldi are well aware of duping business of the mastermind. Not only traders, common people were also relieved of smaller amounts in the name of Jandhan scheme bank accounts and Aadhar cards.
The master swindler of Second Capital City of Nagpur had gone to Vadodara in Gujarat one and half years ago to make more victims of his business. There he duped many traders with LCD advertisement trick. He lured the traders with handsome income by showing advertisements in LCDs in their shops. He also offered agencies to the traders and pocketed huge sums. But when pressure from demanding traders mounted, Kalyani made his escape good. However, Gujarat police succeeded in nabbing the swindler and his two other accomplices Jenif Sheikh and Tausif Sheikh six months back. However, he managed to bail out and straightaway reached Nagpur to “start his old business.”
