Sharebroker cons uncle, arrested

MUMBAI: A stockbroker has beenarrested for duping several senior citizens of their retirement funds afterpromising to invest it in the share market. "The accused used toassure the victims that he would get them high returns if they invested theirsavings with him, only to disappear after getting hold of the money," an officersaid.Interestingly, Madhav Bhagwat, 46, ran out of luck after he played the same trick on his uncle residing at Mahim and cheated him of Rs 7.5 lakh. "Bhagwat, 46, who runs MB Securities and Portfolio in Nashik, has been booked under Section 420 of the IPC and remanded to police custody till March 23," Mahim police senior inspector Ramrao Desai said.The Sonegaon police in Nagpur will arrive Mumbai this week to take his custody.Bhagwat is wanted by the police at Ahmednagar, Nagpur,Nashik and Pune in nearly 10 cases of cheating senior citizens since 2005. "Heis also wanted in several cases of cheque-bouncing cases in Nagpur," aninvestigator said.According to a police officer, Bhagwat wasarrested on March 17 upon his arrival in the city from Nagpur, following atip-off from his uncle, Ramesh Dandekar, 62. "March 17. Acting on atip-off received from Bhagwat's uncle and aunt (Ramesh Dandekar, 62, and hiswife Sumati, 57), the deputy commissioner of police (Zone V) Aswati Dorje formeda team of assistant commissioner of police (Mahim division) Vijay Bagwe, Mahimpolice senior inspector Ramrao Desai, sub-inspector Ashok Dalvi and detectionstaff and arrested Bhagwat.Dandekar wanted to sell his sharescertificates worth Rs 7.5 lakh in May 2010 to buy air tickets for visiting hisson and his family in the US. He got in touch with Bhagwat who promised to helphim sell the shares in less than eight days but went into hiding after thetransaction."Whenever Dandekar tried to contact Bhagwat, hedisconnected his calls. Later he used to reply via SMSes that he would returnthe money as soon as possible which never happened," said sub-inspector AshokDalvi.Investigating officer Dalvi said Bhagwat who represents himself investmentadvisor targets gullible senior citizens. "Bhagwat either collects money fromthe victims' to buy shares for them or sells the shares and goes hiding. Laterhe handover cheque to the victims' that gets bounce. Several cases of chequebouncing are pending against him at the Nagpur Court," he said.