Rajkot man cheated of Rs 21L in loan scam; 6 booked

Rajkot: An employee with a private firm lodged a complaint at Rajkot taluka police station against six individuals for allegedly cheating him of Rs 21.05 lakh by promising a loan of Rs 10 crore.
According to case details, Chiragpari Bawaji was employed at the Gondal Mamlatdar office's stamp department for six months. He stated that he first met Sunny Goswami, a resident of Bhavnagar, at a community gathering in Rajkot's Railnagar three years ago. After he sold his father's 5 bighas of land in Kamadiya village of Gondal taluka eight months ago, Bawaji contacted Goswami to discuss opening a restaurant and cafe on Kalawad Road. Requiring additional funds, Goswami introduced Bawaji to Suraj Patel, who presented himself as a loan agent.
Patel shared details about a firm, claiming it to be a non-banking financial institution (NBFC). Goswami demanded an initial payment of Rs 5 lakh in cash for loan processing, suggesting that refusal would necessitate a trip to Mumbai.
After paying the initial amount to Patel, Bawaji made additional payments as well, totalling over Rs 21 lakh in instalments. Though the application, which the accused asked Bawaji to download, displayed a balance of Rs 10 crore in his loan account, the inability to withdraw the money led Bawaji to recognise the fraud.
Following this, he approached the police. The police filed a cheating and criminal conspiracy case against Hirenpari alias Sunny Goswami, Suraj Patel, Vansuda Agrawal, Subodh Sharma, Sanjida Agrawal, and Shankar Chakravarti, under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).