Sharebroker cons uncle, arrested

MUMBAI: A stockbroker has been arrested for duping several senior citizens of their retirement funds after promising to invest it in the share market.
"The accused used to assure the victims that he would get them high returns if they invested their savings with him, only to disappear after getting hold of the money," an officer said.
Interestingly, Madhav Bhagwat, 46, ran out of luck after he played the same trick on his uncle residing at Mahim and cheated him of Rs 7.5 lakh."Bhagwat, 46, who runs MB Securities and Portfolio in Nashik, has been booked under Section 420 of the IPC and remanded to police custody till March 23," Mahim police senior inspector Ramrao Desai said.
The Sonegaon police in Nagpur will arrive Mumbai this week to take his custody.
Bhagwat is wanted by the police at Ahmednagar, Nagpur, Nashik and Pune in nearly 10 cases of cheating senior citizens since 2005. "He is also wanted in several cases of cheque-bouncing cases in Nagpur," an investigator said.
According to a police officer, Bhagwat was arrested on March 17 upon his arrival in the city from Nagpur, following a tip-off from his uncle, Ramesh Dandekar, 62.
"March 17. Acting on a tip-off received from Bhagwat's uncle and aunt (Ramesh Dandekar, 62, and his wife Sumati, 57), the deputy commissioner of police (Zone V) Aswati Dorje formed a team of assistant commissioner of police (Mahim division) Vijay Bagwe, Mahim police senior inspector Ramrao Desai, sub-inspector Ashok Dalvi and detection staff and arrested Bhagwat.
Dandekar wanted to sell his shares certificates worth Rs 7.5 lakh in May 2010 to buy air tickets for visiting his son and his family in the US. He got in touch with Bhagwat who promised to help him sell the shares in less than eight days but went into hiding after the transaction.
"Whenever Dandekar tried to contact Bhagwat, he disconnected his calls. Later he used to reply via SMSes that he would return the money as soon as possible which never happened," said sub-inspector Ashok Dalvi.Investigating officer Dalvi said Bhagwat who represents himself investment advisor targets gullible senior citizens. "Bhagwat either collects money from the victims' to buy shares for them or sells the shares and goes hiding. Later he handover cheque to the victims' that gets bounce. Several cases of cheque bouncing are pending against him at the Nagpur Court," he said.