Two arrested for 'cheating' by promising dollars at half rate

Police have arrested two persons including a woman for allegedly cheating a man of Rs 3 lakh by promising him US dollars at half of the exchange rate.

Mohammed Rafik Ali, resident of Grant Road in south Mumbai, had lodged a complaint in this regard.

Imran Dadan Ansari (21) and Farzana Amarulla Shaikh (35), whom he had met recently, offered to sell him the US currency at half its market rate, Ali told police.

They called Ali to Tunga village in Powai yesterday, and showed him a bundle of dollars wrapped in a handkerchief, he said.

Ali took the bundle and gave them Rs 3 lakh. Later he found that the bundle had only two dollar notes, and the rest were pieces of plain paper, as per his complaint.

Ali informed a friend of his, who knew the duo, and also lodged a police complaint.

Ali's friend spotted the accused at the Kanjurmarg railway station and had them apprehended with the help of Railway Police, said senior police inspector Anil Pophale of Powai police.

The accused are suspected to have duped others in the same way in Thane and Navi Mumbai too, inspector Pophale said.

A court today remanded them in police custody till tomorrow, the officer said.