Mumbai: A 56-year-old Powai construction supplier who lost Rs 6.6 lakh to an MGL piped gas bill fraud received the full amount after a court directed the accused, Mangaluru resident S K Shetty, to pay the victim before entertaining Shetty’s anticipatory bail plea, the police said.Between March 25 and May 12, Mumbaikars lost Rs 3 crore-plus in MGL scams.In the Powai case, the police said the complainant received the entire money in his bank account on Wednesday after the court directed Shetty, who ran a catering business and whose bank account was used as a mule account by the scammers, to deposit the defrauded amount. Police said the court has not passed an order on Shetty’s plea and has directed him to deposit the money into the complainant’s account.The complainant said the fraud forced him to postpone his daughter’s marriage, which was scheduled on July 5. He shifted the date to Aug 20 after the groom’s family agreed to it.The case was registered on June 2 after the complainant was defrauded in the gas bill scam. Police said he received messages from two mobile numbers between May 12 and May 16 warning that his gas connection would get disconnected due to some billing issue.“Three fraudulent fund transfers were carried out from my bank account after I downloaded an APK file and was asked to pay Rs 12 to update the billing system. It was my hard-earned money that I had saved over a period of two years for my daughter’s marriage. I had almost lost hope before approaching the Powai police,” the complainant told TOI on Thursday.Police said the complainant registered the complaint by calling the cyber crime helpline 1930 after learning that Rs 1.6 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2,299 were transferred from his bank account. A case was filed with the Powai police soon.Based on the written complaint, DCP Datta Nalawade supervised a team comprising Powai police Senior Inspector A S Sawant, Inspector Pravin Pawar, Sub-Inspector Prashant Kendre and Police Constable Pranali Shigam, who coordinated with Mangaluru city police Sub-Inspector Pratibha K H. Police said they tracked the money trail and found the amount was credited to Shetty’s bank account, and that he withdrew the money the same day in May through cheque withdrawal.“Initially, Shetty denied agreeing that he had received the money and said it was received from a client. It was through the govt’s online portal ‘Samanvay’ that we served a notice to Shetty through the Mangaluru city police when he approached the Dindoshi Court for anticipatory bail, which was rejected on June 30. It was interstate police coordination that helped us to recover the entire money,” said the Powai police.The complainant said he lost hope after the money was siphoned from his account.“With the help of my lawyer, Atul Pathak, affidavit was filed in the court and the money got credited on Wednesday. My daughter is lucky as the marriage is fixed for Aug 20,” the complainant said.
