Woman, son arrested for duping J-K dry fruit businessman of Rs 6.5 crore

A woman and her son were arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping a businessman of Rs 6.5 crore, while a search is on to apprehend two of their accomplices, a spokesman of the Jammu and Kashmir Police's Crime Branch said.

Touseef Ahmad Bhat and Shakeela Begum were arrested on a complaint by Raees Ahmad, who owns a firm called Wals Walnut Industries, he said.

Ahmad has alleged that he was tricked into supplying dry fruits worth Rs 6.5 crore by Reyaz Ahmed Matoo, a resident of Srinagar, with whom he had done business for sometime, the spokesman said.

In his complaint, lodged with the Crime Branch in Jammu, Ahmad said Matoo started taking consignments of dry fruits from him after introducing himself as a dry fruit businessman, owning a firm called Sadaf Dry Fruit, he said.

Matoo continued making payments against the consignments to build a trust and one day he told Ahmad that he had received a huge army contract for supplying dry fruits, the spokesman said.

Suspecting no foul play, the victim supplied the dry fruits worth crores following which the accused went underground after receiving the consignments, he said.

Cheques of Rs 1.45 crore given by Matoo to Ahmad were dishonoured by bank for insufficient balance, the Crime Branch spokesman said.

Taking cognisance of the matter, the Crime Branch, Jammu, registered a criminal case under relevant sections of the law and started its investigation, he said.

It established that Bhat, a resident of Hawal locality of Srinagar, is the main conspirator behind the case, the spokesman said.

"Matoo has purchased land in the name of his wife Ruqaya and constructed a building on it worth crores of rupees out of the money looted from the complainant, and then transferred it to the name of Shakeela Begum, who is Bhat's mother," he said.

Bhat and Shakeela were arrested after a series of raids, the spokesman said, adding that they were sent in police remand for seven days after their bail application was rejected by a local court.

Mobile phones, debit cards and other documents have been seized, he said.

"The accused are will be questioned to ascertain the modus operandi of the crime and other aspects related to the case. Efforts are on to arrest Matoo and his wife who are still at large," he said.