Pune: Four people allegedly cheated at least 10 investors of Rs 2.75 crore over the past three years by luring them into investing in an oil business for earning good returns.A Kondhwa resident (38) lodged a complaint against them with the Kondhwa police on Friday. Subsequently, a case under Sections 316 (criminal breach of trust) and 318 (cheating) of the BNS was registered.The suspects collected Rs 4.09 crore from the investors over the last three years. However, they returned Rs 1.34 crore. Two of the suspects are from Belagavi in Karnataka, while the other two are from Raigad district.An officer from the Kondhwa police said the complainant and the two Raigad-based suspects knew each other. They told the complainant that their friend imported crude oil from Gulf countries and sold it in the Indian subcontinent, Europe and African countries.“He assured the complainant of at least a 10% profit if he invested in the oil business. He also told him that the company would return the invested amount after one year,” the officer said.The officer said the complainant believed the suspects and he, along with nine others, invested Rs 4.09 crore in the business in July 2023. The suspects later returned Rs 1.34 crore to the 10 investors but then gradually stopped paying the promised returns.They also failed to return the remaining invested sum of Rs 2.75 crore. “Despite repeated follow-ups, the investors did not get their money back,” he said.
