The police have arrested a 62-year-old-woman for duping over 35 businessmen in Mumbai and Goa to the tune of Rs. 1.09 crore.
“Khurshid Daroowala told her potential victims, who were seeking loans, that she was associated with a Parsi trust, and that her adopted U.S.-based father could organise funds in dollars. Her mannerisms and Parsi background became her unique selling point to cheat the genuine businessmen,” Pravin More, senior police inspector with the Mahim police station, told The Hindu .
The businessmen made advance payments as commissions, which Daroowala told them were required to convert the funds into dollars. She also made them sign a fake memorandum of understanding. Daroowala had collected a sum of about Rs. 1.09 crore from these businessmen between 2005 and 2007, and vanished. After the businessmen lodged complaints, the police launched a search for the woman.
“The investigators, who visited the residence of the woman, were consistently told by her family members, including husband and two children, that she was in the U.S. and had snapped ties with them,” Mr. More said.
Recently, the police traced one of her telephone numbers to a hotel located in Khetwadi in Girgaum in central Mumbai.
She was arrested and has been in judicial custody. She will be interrogated to find out the scale of the fraud, the police officer said.
The writer is a freelance journalist
