Two booked by Mumbai Police for duping banker of Rs 18 crore by selling fake paintings

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Two people have been booked by Mumbai Police for allegedly duping a banker of Rs 18 crore by selling fake paintings, an official said on Tuesday, reported the PTI.

According to the news agency, a case of forgery has been registered by police in Mumbai against an art dealer and another man for allegedly duping an investment banker of Rs 17.9 crore by selling him fake paintings, claiming that they were the works of renowned artistes like Manjit Bawa and Francis Newton Souza.

Tardeo police registered a case against, a lawyer, and an art dealer under Indian Penal Code sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 467,468,471 (offences related to forgery) on Monday but no arrest has been made, an official said, the PTI reported.

As per the complaint filed by banker, he met the lawyer at a party last year, the police official said, as per the PTI.

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He allegedly told him that he was an art connoisseur and could help him get paintings of prominent artists at reasonable prices. He put the banker in touch with art dealer, the complaint said.

In January 2022, the lawyer allegedly offered to get two painting for him. One of them, titled 'Krishna with Cows', was a work by Manjit Bawa, and its current owner, Bhopal-based IAS officer, was ready to sell it for Rs 6.75 crore, he allegedly told the banker.

A painting by Francis Newton Souza was also available for Rs 1.75 crore, the lawyer informed him.

The banker made payment on the bank account of a company of art dealer and received the two painting which he hanged on the walls of his house in Delhi, the news agency reported.

On the lawyer's advice, he bought nine more paintings from art dealer between January to May 2022, paying a total of Rs 17.9 crore, he told police, the PTI reported.

But some of the banker's friends told him that the two paintings were not the works of Bawa and Souza. When he contacted the IAS officer, he denied to have sold any such paintings to anybody.

The complainant then got the signatures on the paintings examined and found that they were forgeries, according to the PTI.

As the accused allegedly refused to return his money, the banker approached the police last month, the police official said.

Further probe was underway, he added.

(with PTI inputs)