Conman held for bid to dupe Matoshree staff in name of Aaditya

A 19-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly trying to extract money from the staff posted at Matoshree, the Bandra residence of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, for a parcel he falsely claimed was ordered by Aaditya Thackeray.

Matoshree, where the late Sena supremo Bal Thackeray resided, has high security.

Notably, the accused Dheeraj More had succeeded in conning the staff at the bungalow gate on three occasions in the past using the similar modus operandi, a police officer said on Saturday.

More, who used to work as a delivery boy earlier, is a resident of Parel in Central Mumbai. He was arrested earlier for a similar offence and was released from jail recently.

Security at Matoshree has been tightened in view of the incident.

A police official said More's cover was blown away when security guards at Matoshree detained him on Thursday when he tried to deliver a parcel claiming that it was ordered by the Yuva Sena president.

DCP (Zone 8) Manjunath Singe said More had duped the staff for at least Rs 8500 on three occasions, separated by few days, by delivering a headphone, a textbook and a computer mike claiming that Aaditya had ordered them online, which the latter never did.

He said More had inflated the original prices of these items.

"On the fourth occasion, a staff member went inside the bungalow to enquire with Aaditya whether he had ordered anything, which the latter replied in the negative. Meanwhile, sensing trouble, More tried to run away but he was detained by security guards and was handed over to Khetwadi police," said the DCP.

A case has been registered against More for cheating under the Indian Penal Code.