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Pune, India: Five students, including four foreign nationals, were allegedly duped of Rs 2.78 lakh by a real estate agent and his aide, on the pretext of helping them get flats on rent in Kondhwa between February and April.
The agent, Punit Nandwani, and his aide (name not known) are on the run. Two of the students are from Nigeria, two are from Ghana and one is from northeast India.
Nigerian national Nasa Chinasa (28), residing in Undri, registered a complaint Nandwani and his aide with the Kondhwa police on Saturday.
Chinasa, a second-year Bachelor of Arts student at a city college, had initially filed a complaint against the suspects last month, but could not visit the Kondhwa police station to record her statement before Saturday, as she was busy with her examinations.
Sub-inspector Nitin Atkare said on Monday that sometime in February, the students had contacted Nandwani and his aide through a friend to find flats on rent in Kondhwa. He said, “Nandwani was staying in a rented flat in Undri. He had offered this flat on rent to three of the students, pretending to be the property’s owner. He had shown another flat on NIBM Road to the two other students.”
To help them find suitable flats, Nandwani collected Rs 70,000 from the Indian student Rose (full name not known), Rs 58,000 from Chinasa, Rs 44,000 from Cosy Linda from Nigeria, Rs 55,000 from Reverend Daniel and Rs 51,000 from Reverend Osama, both from Ghana, between February and April. He told them that the money was to pay rent, deposit and to cover other expenses, Atkare said.
Nandwani and his aide fled after collecting the money. They switched off their cellphones. The students approached police after they were unable to contact the duo. Police are in the process of recording the statements of the four others.
A police team visited Nandwani’s residence, but it was locked. “We are working on clues and will arrest the real estate agent and his aide as soon as possible,” Atkare added.
TimesofIndia