Pune: The Vishrambaug police are searching for a man , who is on the run after duping two wholesale pharmaceutical distributors of Rs29 lakh. The suspect had for several years been appointed by the distributors on a commission basis to distribute medicines to retail pharmacies in the city and collect payment from them. "The man did not return the bill amounts he had collected from different pharmacies between May and July this year and duped the two wholesale distributors," an officer from the Vishrambaug police said.
A 37-year-old wholesale distributor from Sadashiv Peth on Thursday lodged a complaint against the suspect with the police. "The complainant was duped of Rs11.80 lakh, while his father-in-law was duped of Rs17.
24 lakh by the same suspect," the officer said. The suspect was working with the complainant for the past seven years on a commission basis. His job was to collect orders from retail pharmacies in the city, distribute medicines to them, collect bill payments, and deposit it with the complainant.
"In July, the complainant found that bills of most pharmacies from Undri areas were pending. When he asked the suspect about it, the latter said they all would clear the bills by the end of the month," the officer said. As July came to an end, the suspect stopped coming to work and his cellphone was not reachable either.
"The complainant became suspicious and contacted the pharmacies in Undri. He found that all of them had already cleared their bills, and the suspec.