One more case against Shashank, mom

Pune: A case of cheating, criminal breach of trust and threatening was registered by Pimpri Chinchwad police on Thursday night against Vaishnavi Hagawane's husband Shashank and his mother, Lata.They face charges of duping a land developer from Nighoje in Khed taluka of Rs11.7 lakh. A case was registered under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Indian Arms Act.Pimpri Chinchwad police's deputy commissioner (zone II) Shivaji Pawar told TOI that in March 2022, the complainant had purchased an earth-moving machine from the Hagawanes. The deal was finalised for Rs24 lakh. The complainant paid Rs5 lakh to Shashank and his mother, and took the equipment."Shashank had taken a loan from a private bank to purchase the earth-moving machine and Rs19 lakh was still due. The complainant agreed to give Rs50,000 per month to the Hagawanes and they would pay it to the bank. The complainant transferred Rs6.7 lakh to Lata's account," Pawar said. The Hagawanes, however, did not repay the loan, following which the bank took away the machine in Aug 2024."Shashank recovered the earth-moving machine from the bank later, but did not return it to the complainant," he said. Since then, the complainant was pursuing Shashank and his mother and demanding that either they return his money or the machine. But there was no response."When he went to meet Shashank, the latter threatened him with a licenced pistol," Pawar said, adding that the complainant then filed an application with the Mahalunge MIDC police. "We have registered a case and investigations are on," he said.Meanwhile, Pune city police on Thursday night registered two separate offences with the Warje and Kothrud police stations against Shashank and his brother, Sushil, for fraudulent representation of addresses by deceptive means to obtain firearm licences in 2022.DCP (zone III) Sambhaji Kadam said, "We registered the two cases after realising they had submitted misleading addresses which amounts to fraudulent misrepresentation."