Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: KIRAN BAKALE
The Hubballi-Dharwad Police have arrested a Mysuru-based man on the charge of duping a woman by promising her to get her a huge loan but, instead, giving her fake notes.
Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Wednesday, Police Commissioner N. Shashikumar said that they arrested Mohammed Asif, a resident of Mysuru, who duped the woman from Pune who was trying to get loans for her daughter.
Speaking about the case, the Police Commissioner said that Ashwini Peddawad from Pune was trying to arrange funds for her daughter’s construction company and at that point of time, the accused Mohammed Asif introduced himself posing as Sudhir Mehra. He claimed that he had acquaintances in several capital and finance firms.
Over a period of time, Ms. Peddawad sought help from the accused in getting loan to the tune of ₹50 crore. The accused convinced the complainant that he was capable of getting loan by showing her fake documents about financial assistance to various companies.
He told her that she would have to pay ₹60 lakh as advance if she had to get the loan. Accordingly, she paid him ₹60 lakh and he promised the first instalment of ₹2 crore loan. Subsequently, a third person gave Ms. Peddawad a bag containing ₹1.87 crore near a private hotel on Gokul Road in Hubballi. However, when the victim returned to her hotel and counted the currency notes, she found that the notes were fake.
The accused had kept inside the bag real currency notes on top and fake notes of “Children Bank of India” below. Fake notes with a face value of ₹1,87,45,000 were given to the victim.
On realising that she had been duped, Ms. Peddawad filed a complaint at the Vidyanagar Police Sation. Taking up investigation, the Police managed to trace the accused in Murdeshwar of Uttara Kannada. Cases of fraud and fake currency circulation have been filed against the accused.
He was produced before a judge on Tuesday night, Mr. Shashikumar said.
The Police Commissioner said that during investigation it was revealed that the accused Mohammed Asif was involved in a similar fraud in Bengaluru during 2017-18 and he had purchased fake notes from a printing press in Tamil Nadu.
A car and two mobile handsets have been recovered from the accused. Further investigation is on.
Published – June 11, 2025 08:05 pm IST
