3 women defrauded of Rs 10 lakh under aegis of granting franchisee

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The dream of three friends to start a new business and become self-reliant by taking a franchise vanished into thin air. A case of fraud involving Rs 10 lakh was filed against an individual from Monginis Food Pvt. Ltd. at the Waluj police station.

Meera Annasaheb Bodkhe (45, Shivrai, Gangapur tehsil) works as a group research person for a women's self-help group. Through the self-help group, she became friends with Suvarna Ganesh Gaikwad (Abdulpur) and Sunita Ganesh Ubale (Limbejalgaon). From this friendship, the three decided to start a new business. Bodkhe had seen the website of the above company on Google about three and a half months ago. Hence to take a franchise of this company, she emailed the company through their website. A few days later, the company sent her an email saying to contact Nitin Sharma for detailed information regarding the franchise and provided his mobile number.

Meanwhile, Nitin Sharma contacted Bodkhe and provided her with all the details about the food company. He also informed them that the cost of acquiring the franchise would be between Rs 1.3 to 1.5 million. After discussing with her friends Suvarna and Sunita, Bodkhe decided that the three of them would equally contribute to the amount and acquire the franchise. She also facilitated conversations between her two friends and Nitin Sharma.

Paid Rs 10 lakh for the franchise

The trio friends transferred Rs 41,500 as a registration fee to Monginis Food Pvt. Ltd.'s Canara Bank account (Andheri West, Mumbai) on April 5. The next day, they sent Rs 2 lakh as a security deposit. On April 10, they transferred Rs 4.25 lakh for interior design, and on April 18, they deposited Rs 3 lakh through RTGS for product billing into the company’s account. After depositing the money, they were informed that a team from the company would visit them to handle all the interior design work.

When no one from the company arrived after a week, the friends became anxious. Bodkhe contacted Sharma, expressing their desire to cancel the deal. Sharma responded that their money had been deposited into the company’s account and that they would only get it back after paying the GST amount.

After paying the GST amount on April 24, Sharma falsely assured them that the money would be deposited into their account by 5.30 pm on same day. However, when the money was not deposited, Bodkhe continuously tried to contact Sharma, only to find that his mobile phone was switched off. Realising they had been defrauded, Bodkhe went to the Waluj police station and filed a complaint against Nitin Sharma. A case has been registered and further investigation is on by the police inspector Rajendra Sahane.