Vadodara: A man who allegedly posed as a bank manager to duped many people out of gold worth crores of rupees in the city has been arrested by crime branch . Ravi Peshawariya, who was absconding, was nabbed near Jambua flyover on the basis of a tip-off. According to police, Peshawariya was in a car when he was intercepted.
He didn't have documents for the vehicle, after which they questioned him further and ascertained his identity. Investigators said Peshawariya came to Vadodara a few years ago and changed his name to Vishal Gajjar. He posed as a bank manager and convinced people that he could get them loans in exchange for their gold.
Many people gave him their gold over the past year, worth about Rs 3 crore. Peshawariya allegedly took loans on the gold himself, kept some of the gold and vanished. Two cases of cheating were lodged against him, in 2022 and 2023, at Manjalpur police station.
Police said Peshawariya is from Rajkot and did a Bachelor of Commerce degree there. He used to deal in used cars there but in 2012-13 committed fraud by selling used cars as new. Rajkot police filed FIRs against him in three fraud cases as did Gandhidham police.
As he couldn't get a bank loan there due to the fraud cases, he first shifted to Khambat and then to Vadodara. Police have seized his car and are investigating if he is involved in any more cases of fraud..