Muhammad Hafiz was accused of cheating his father-in-law of around Rs 107 crore and at least 1,000 sovereigns of gold jewellery gifted to his daughter. He was also accused of forging documents in the name of Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Maharashtra’s Minister of Tourism, in pretext of a fake business deal
Dubai-based NRI businessman Abdul Lahir Hassan lodged a complaint at Aluva Police Station in Kerala against his son-in-law for allegedly cheating him around Rs 107 crore and at least 1,000 sovereigns of gold jewellery gifted to his daughter.
As per the complaint, the accused Muhammad Hafeez a.k.a Hafeez Kudroli, a native of Kasaragod, cheated the money from Mr Hassan under various pretexts between August 2019 and November 2020. The accused also managed to obtain the ownership of some properties of the businessman in this period.
He lodged the complaint at the Aluva East Police Station on August 21. It was too late when Mr Hassan found out about the real face of his son-in-law.
As the amount involved is over ₹ 100 crore and with the accused still at large and reportedly in Goa, the investigation of the case was handed over to the Crime Branch wing of Kerala police on Thursday, November 24, news agency PTI reported.
Meanwhile, Mr Hassan, told a TV channel that Aluva police allegedly failed to arrest the accused or even call him for questioning and they also could not recover from him the ₹ 1.5 crore worth car given for his use.
The alleged cheating started with Mr Hassan’s son-in-law asking for around Rs 4 crore to pay the fine imposed on the latter after a central agency raid.
The accused also used a forged Income Tax notice to embezzle money from his father-in-law.
As per the complaint, he even forged documents in the name of Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Maharashtra’s Minister of Tourism, in pretext of a fake business deal with realty major Lodha Group, Mr Hassan told the channel.
Thereafter, under various pretexts, like for buying land or opening a footwear showroom, his son-in-law managed to obtain over ₹ 92 crore from him.
According to police, the accused did not do it all alone and had an accomplice, Akshay Thomas Vaidyan. Mr Hassan has named both of them in the complaint to the police, the officer said.
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