Mumbai Crime: Gold Trader Cheated of ₹1 Crore in Fake RTGS Deal, Two Held, Hunt on for Others

A shocking case of fraud has come to light in which a gold trader was duped of ₹1 crore under the pretext of an RTGS transfer. The accused allegedly took ₹1 crore in cash from the trader, but transferred only ₹1 to his account to gain his trust, before fleeing with the entire amount.

The Lokmanya Tilak (LT) Marg Police have registered an FIR in the matter and arrested two accused, identified as Pradeep Madhu Pawar (45) and Dipesh Ashok Bajpe, while a search is on for other accomplices.

According to police, the complainant, Parvesh Jain (47), a gold businessman from Mumbai, wanted to deposit ₹1 crore in his company’s account through RTGS for the purpose of purchasing a house. On 9th September 2025, Jain, through his employee Ankush Singh, contacted Pradeep Pawar for the transaction.

Pradeep sought Jain’s bank details, following which Jain sent a photo of a blank cheque of his company Alova Jewels LLP over WhatsApp. In response, Pradeep shared his firm Artmed Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.’s details and asked Jain to hand over ₹1 crore in cash to an angadia named V. Patel at Bhuleshwar on 10th September.

The next day, Jain, along with his employees Jagdish Doshi and Ashok Saraswal, carried ₹1 crore in cash to Patel’s angadia office, accompanied by Pradeep’s agent Anand. After the money was deposited inside, Anand collected the receipt and took a photograph of a ₹10 note as a token, keeping the token with himself. Later in the day, Pradeep and Dipesh also arrived at the angadia and handed over a ₹110 note as a token to Jagdish, assuring that the RTGS would be completed in two hours.

By evening, Jain received an SMS credit of ₹1 in his account. Pradeep told him this was a test transfer and the full amount would reflect by night. However, the next day, only ₹1 was credited again. When Jain raised concerns, Pradeep cited an error in Jagdish’s name as the reason for the delay.

On 12th September, when Jain, Jagdish, and Pradeep revisited the angadia’s office with the token, they learnt that of the ₹1 crore, ₹32 lakh had already been sent to Kutch, Gujarat, under the token of Mitesh Pravinbhai Thakkar, while ₹68 lakh was lying with V. Patel’s Malad branch. Jain’s attempts to contact Mitesh failed, and soon after, calls to Pradeep and Dipesh also went unanswered as their phones were switched off.

Realising he had been cheated, Jain lodged a complaint with LT Marg Police. Acting swiftly, police arrested Pradeep Pawar and Dipesh Bajpe, while efforts are underway to trace other accused including Raju Mandal, Mitesh, Anand and others linked to the fraud.