Man uses 'besna' ads to cheat people in 37 towns

RAJKOT: The city crime branch has arrested a 34-year-old man of Junagadh district who used advertisements of condolence meetings and tributes to cheat large number of people across Gujarat by promising jobs to kin of the deceased. Acting on specific information, crime branch sleuths kept a watch near Trikon Baug and nabbed Deepak Parmar, native of Dalwa village in Manavadar taluka of Junagadh, on Saturday.

Crime branch officials said that Parmar used to look for mobile numbers in advertisements of besna (condolence meet) as well as tributes paid to departed souls in the newspapers. Parmar then called up on the numbers and talked to the family members describing himself as Mr Makwana, an officer from Junagadh Agriculture University (JAU). "Parmar used to strike an emotional chord with the family members by telling them that the deceased person was his friend and helped him a lot. He used to convince the grieving family that he was extremely indebted to the deceased and wanted to help anyone in the family who required jobs in the agriculture department by using his good offices," said K J Dhaduk, police sub-inspector, Rajkot crime branch.

"This is only way (by helping someone with jobs) to express my gratitude," Parmar used to tell the family. "When people contacted him for jobs, he used to ask for their photo ID proofs, residence proofs and other documents along with some cash and ask them to come to Rajkot. He used to take anywhere between Rs 3,500 and Rs 10,000," said Dhaduk. However, Parmar always disappeared after taking the money.

Police said he had cheated people using such advertisements in 37 towns and cities of Gujarat.

"He had made around Rs 2 lakh by using this novel way of cheating in the last six months," said Dhaduk

Police said he had fleeced people in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhuj, Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Banaskantha, Dholka, Navsari, Surat, Godhra, Kheda among other places.

It was on July 1 that the city police had got a complaint from Keshod resident Prakash Mori from whom Parmar had taken Rs 10,500 by promising a job. When Mori got to know that he was cheated, he approached police, which did not lodge an official complaint but started probing the case.

On Saturday, they got information that Parmar would visit Rajkot to take money from a person and nabbed him.

Parmar was held earlier too

Rajkot: Crime branch sources said that Parmar was arrested earlier too in Rajkot for cheating 10-12 people using similar modus operandi. He was out on bail. Parmar had quit studies after class X and was living with his in-laws. Sources said that he was in need of money for his own expenses. After cheating people in Rajkot using this method, he only grew in confidence and decided to target people across Gujarat.