NRI arrested for cheating city bizman of

MUMBAI: A non-resident Indian settled in Singapore was arrested by the Azad Maidan Police for allegedly cheating a city businessman to the tune of ₹3.5 crore by supplying cement, in place of steel and brass, which the latter had ordered through him. The accused, who was on the run since 2019, was arrested on Tuesday when he landed at Ahmedabad airport, as there was a lookout circular against his name, issued by the Azad Maidan Police.
The accused is identified as Hem Prabhakar Shah, 55, a resident of Singapore. He is a trader dealing in ferrous and non-ferrous metals. The Azad Maidan Police said a case was registered by them against the accused following a complaint lodged by Sharad Kumar Kejriwal, 40, a Churchgate resident.
Kejriwal’s AP Trading Company had ordered brass and copper from two companies through Shah between February 2019 and June 2019. “He had even paid ₹3.5 crore in US dollars but was delivered sacks of cement. That’s why he had registered a case under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code against Shah and the two suppliers, the company that issued shipment certificate, and the shipping company involved in the conspiracy,” said a police officer.
As the accused could not be found since 2019, as they were foreign nationals, an A-summary report was filed in the case, which meant that the accusations were true, but the accused were not found. At the same time, look-out circulars (LoC) were issued against the accused.
“When Shah tried to enter India via Ahmedabad airport thinking that the case had become cold, he was detained by the airport authorities on our LoC and handed over to us,” said the police officer.
The police then re-opened the investigation with court permission and placed Shah under arrest in the case. The counsel for the accused told the court that his client was just a middleman and had only introduced the parties and was in no way connected with the cheating. After hearing both the parties, the court remanded Shah to police custody for three days.