Man booked for cheating Pune-based jewellery brand of Rs1.6 cr

A Chandigarh resident has beenbooked by the Pune Police for allegedly cheating a city-basedjeweller of Rs 1.6 crore by promising the investment of Rs 50crore and offering assistance in opening a showroom inChandigarh.

The FIR was lodged by P N Gadgil (PNG) Jewellersagainst Rohit Sharma, a resident of Chandigarh.

''A case has been lodged by P N Gadgil Jewellersagainst the person under sections 420 (cheating) and 406(criminal breach of trust ) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)with Vishrambaug police station,'' said Bachchan Singh, DeputyCommissioner of Police (Crime).

He said crime branch is investigating the case.

In a statement, PNG Jewellers said that as part of theexpansion plans and to establish a strong retail store networkin North India, the firm was actively looking for franchiseesto support their endeavour to establish the brand specificallyin the states of Punjab and Haryana.

''One Rohit Sharma, a resident of Chandigarh,approached us in 2018 to help generate interest in our brandthrough the franchisee route with relevant local investors.

The project required him to help raise investments of up toRs 50 crore for the purpose of setting up 4 to 5 franchiseestores,'' said the statement.

It further said that thedeal with Sharma required thePNG Jewellers to pay an upfront brokerage of 2 per cent.

''A total of 1.6 crores was paid to Sharma in 2019,subject to a full refund in case the deliverables were not metby Sharma within a stipulated time frame,'' as per thestatement.

The PNG Jewellers also took security cheques to thetune of the sum paid from Sharma.

''When the deliverables were not met and the promisesof Sharma fell apart, we decided to deposit the securitycheques, which bounced. Hence we decided to go ahead and filethe FIR with Pune Police in this matter,'' the statement said.

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