Delhi Police Crime Branch has arrested a 55-year-old Dhanbad-based businessman who had allegedly duped a number of fish traders of Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh to the tune of Rs6.5 crore. The accused, identified as Dolan Kumar Dey, was absconding since January 2013. He was wanted in four criminal cases of cheating and criminal intimidation registered in West and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh.
“A team of Andhra Pradesh police had contacted us seeking help in tracing Dey as they had some input that he might be hiding in Delhi. On September 4, information was received that Dey would be coming near Pragati Maidan to meet his associate. A trap was laid and he was apprehended,” said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand.
Fisheries are a popular business in Godavari region of Andhra Pradesh. Hundreds of such fisheries owners used to supply fish to Rahul Traders in Dhanbad and Dey was its proprietor. Everyday farmers would send fish of about Rs40 lakh from East/West Godavari districts to Rahul Traders.
According to police, in order to earn the goodwill of the suppliers, he kept on making regular payments to them. However, in the last month of 2012, he stopped paying the farmers. He kept on promising to pay the same in due time. “The innocent owners of fisheries, believing Dey, kept on sending their catch of the day to Dhanbad. When the outstanding payment accumulated to around Rs6.5 crore, Dey absconded. There was huge uproar in Andhra Pradesh and four criminal cases were registered against him in this connection,” said Chand.
Interrogation of Dolan Kumar Dey has revealed that in order to evade police, he kept on shifting base. He also told police that from the siphoned money he wanted to set up a fisheries farming business near Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, police said. He has been taken to Andhra Pradesh on transit remand for onward production at courts in Andhra Pradesh.