It feels bad to get cheated and it feels worse to publicize the fact. And yet it is one duty that the cheated owes to friends who may be at similar risk. Hence this true story.
This story is about an young man, swarthy and scrawny with a boyish and intelligent look. He claimed to be an architect and came across as one who was not only well versed in his profession but was willing to undercut the competition for gaining a foothold in a new city. He was introduced by a businessman friend who was in the middle of constructing a marriage hall and chanced (?) upon this young man. The young man gave him new ideas and enlightened him about cost effective and elegant substitutes to traditional materials. He engaged this boy on a retainer and also introduced him to friends.
I have managed to get hold of a photograph of this young criminal and am appending it below:
This fellow was always ready with a laptop or an i-Pad and would demonstrate his points conclusively. He generated designs quickly and communicated through email, Whatsapp and usual SMS. He was frank about the discounts that he got on purchase of material and was willing to liberally share it with clients unlike other practicing architects in Lucknow.
He was introduced to my group which consisted of allottees of flats in a new enclave developed by Lucknow Development Authority. He generated designs for modular kitchen and cupboards for the flats which had similar layouts and gave a quote to the group that was nearly 40% below the market rates in this area. He said he was willing to pass on part of his discounts in exchange for getting a large clientele. He also invited some of us to his rented flat for a cup of tea. We found that he was living there with his family that consisted of his wife and a 3 year old daughter. His wife who had a diametrically opposite complexion, claimed to be an interior decorator. The boy claimed to be from Gujarat.
He collected advance form all of us in the group. He had also been able to win over a few others who either had a new house to be constructed or an existing one to be renovated. He also procured a couple of sets of fittings for the kitchens and showed them to us by turns creating an impression that he had bulk procured for the whole group. After this he requested for a second tranche of advance to get molded cabinet doors. He said that advance payments to suppliers yielded better discounts. He had also procured advance from those who had engaged him for construction or renovation of houses and also had some material delivered.
In the mean time he was devoting a lot of time to the marriage hall and kept telling others that the projects may get only slightly delayed on account of a deadline for completion of the hall. He took large amounts of advance from the owner of the marriage hall under construction. Of course, he had some material delivered and took the project forward. He had also shifted from the flat to a makeshift house in the marriage hall compound to save time on commuting.
Then one fine morning he disappeared in thin air. His family was gone too. And then when everyone started taking stock, it turned out that he had procured all material on credit and had not even purchased enough sets for the orders he had booked! Some lost nearly a lakh of rupees and some lost more.
This fellow called himself Hirachand L Solanki. He had a bank account and a driving license. It turns that all the KYC for these was bad or forged. His mail account still exists. As expected he has discarded his phone numbers.
This chap must now be in a another city trying to chat up potential victims. Hence this post. Be warned yourself and share this widely in your circles to save others from falling into this trap. Share with friends abroad too. This fellow claimed to have worked in Dubai too for some time!
This story is about an young man, swarthy and scrawny with a boyish and intelligent look. He claimed to be an architect and came across as one who was not only well versed in his profession but was willing to undercut the competition for gaining a foothold in a new city. He was introduced by a businessman friend who was in the middle of constructing a marriage hall and chanced (?) upon this young man. The young man gave him new ideas and enlightened him about cost effective and elegant substitutes to traditional materials. He engaged this boy on a retainer and also introduced him to friends.
I have managed to get hold of a photograph of this young criminal and am appending it below:
This fellow was always ready with a laptop or an i-Pad and would demonstrate his points conclusively. He generated designs quickly and communicated through email, Whatsapp and usual SMS. He was frank about the discounts that he got on purchase of material and was willing to liberally share it with clients unlike other practicing architects in Lucknow.
He was introduced to my group which consisted of allottees of flats in a new enclave developed by Lucknow Development Authority. He generated designs for modular kitchen and cupboards for the flats which had similar layouts and gave a quote to the group that was nearly 40% below the market rates in this area. He said he was willing to pass on part of his discounts in exchange for getting a large clientele. He also invited some of us to his rented flat for a cup of tea. We found that he was living there with his family that consisted of his wife and a 3 year old daughter. His wife who had a diametrically opposite complexion, claimed to be an interior decorator. The boy claimed to be from Gujarat.
He collected advance form all of us in the group. He had also been able to win over a few others who either had a new house to be constructed or an existing one to be renovated. He also procured a couple of sets of fittings for the kitchens and showed them to us by turns creating an impression that he had bulk procured for the whole group. After this he requested for a second tranche of advance to get molded cabinet doors. He said that advance payments to suppliers yielded better discounts. He had also procured advance from those who had engaged him for construction or renovation of houses and also had some material delivered.
In the mean time he was devoting a lot of time to the marriage hall and kept telling others that the projects may get only slightly delayed on account of a deadline for completion of the hall. He took large amounts of advance from the owner of the marriage hall under construction. Of course, he had some material delivered and took the project forward. He had also shifted from the flat to a makeshift house in the marriage hall compound to save time on commuting.
Then one fine morning he disappeared in thin air. His family was gone too. And then when everyone started taking stock, it turned out that he had procured all material on credit and had not even purchased enough sets for the orders he had booked! Some lost nearly a lakh of rupees and some lost more.
This fellow called himself Hirachand L Solanki. He had a bank account and a driving license. It turns that all the KYC for these was bad or forged. His mail account still exists. As expected he has discarded his phone numbers.
This chap must now be in a another city trying to chat up potential victims. Hence this post. Be warned yourself and share this widely in your circles to save others from falling into this trap. Share with friends abroad too. This fellow claimed to have worked in Dubai too for some time!
VERY NICE INFORMATION
ReplyDelete