Trader held from Gujarat for duping Maha cashew farmers

City police have arrested a trader from Kutch district in Gujarat for allegedly duping farmers from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, police said on Saturday.

The accused, identified as Sumit Asnani alias Mahesh Gulabchandani (49), was arrested on June 6, police said.

"He and his partner had set up Ashtavinayak Trading Company in Thane and procured over 14 tonnes of cashews worth over Rs one crore from several farmers in Kolhapur last year. They sold the cashew stock, but shut the business and fled without paying anything to the farmers," inspector Sandeep Bagul of Thane crime branch said.

Following complaints from farmers, an offence was registered at Kapurbawdi police station against the duo under IPC sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and others.

"Police had arrested Gulabchandani's partner Deepak Patel alias Amit Asnani from Kutch in December last year. He is currently lodged in Thane jail," Bagul said.

After Patel's arrest, the police were on the lookout for Gulabchandani, who was traced to Kutch and finally arrested on Thursday, police said.

He has been remanded to police custody till June 13.

According to police, the duo was wanted in some other cheating cases in Thane, Kolhapur and Belgaum.