Accused forged Aadhaar, PAN cards to buy two iPhones

The Vashi police have booked a man for cheating HDFC Bank of ₹1.27 lakh based on a complaint registered by Rajeet Qureshi, the bank’s location manager (investigation team), on December 20.

Mr. Qureshi in his complaint said a man named Ravindra Patil purchased an iPhone 11 from a store at Sector 17 in Vashi on December 4 and applied for a loan of ₹50,000 with an HDFC agent at the store.

Mr. Patil’s loan was processed after he submitted his bank statement and PAN and Aadhaar cards.

The agent then clicked a photo of him receiving the phone. On December 16, Mr. Qureshi found conflicting information while verifying the cards.

A police officer said, “The Aadhaar and PAN cards were found to be forged as the original cards had the picture of another man. When a bank official dialled the contact number, the mobile was found switched off. Another bank agent visited the residence in Juhugaon mentioned in the cards and found the real Ravindra Patil, who denied purchasing the phones.”

On December 20, Mr. Qureshi received the details of a man named Birjesh Patel who had taken a loan of ₹77,769 to purchase an iPhone 11 Pro from a shop at Sector 30 in Vashi. Mr. Patel was found to be the same person who had posed as Mr. Patil and submitted the forged documents.

A case has been registered against Mr. Patel under Sections 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code. Investigation is on.