Thane, Jan 19 (PTI) The police in Maharashtra's Thane district have registered a case against three persons for allegedly cheating a cloth merchant of nearly Rs 41 lakh on the pretext of helping him set up a petrol pump, an official said on Friday.

The trio, identified as Varun Jaiswal, Manoj Sharma, and Amit, first got in touch with the 23-year-old complainant from Bhiwandi in December 2022 with a proposal for a petrol pump.

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Since then, they allegedly made the complainant shell out a total of Rs 41.49 lakh on the pretext of security deposit, licensing fee and funds for machinery for the fuel station, the official said.

However, the accused did not initiate any process for obtaining the necessary permits despite follow-ups, the complainant told the police.

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The cloth merchant approached the police with a complaint against the accused on Wednesday after which a case was registered against them under Indian Penal Code section 420 (cheating) and 465 (forgery), said the station house officer of the Bhiwandi town police station.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)