Mumbai: Borivali police on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly cheating a businessman of ₹1.48 crore on the pretext of offering high returns on an investment in the purchase of a passenger boat meant for a Gulf-based company.
The accused, identified as Sanjay Subhash Naik, had been on the run since a case was registered against him last month. He is currently in police custody and is being interrogated.
The complainant, Tariq Laik Pathan, runs a shipping business and lives in Borivali. Naik, a resident of Juwarinagar in Siddharth Colony, South Goa, met Pathan in October 2025.
Naik had allegedly told Pathan that he was procuring a passenger boat for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the UAE and convinced him to invest in the deal by promising good returns.
According to police, Pathan initially paid ₹23 lakh, and between October 2025 and January 2026, Naik persuaded him to invest more money in the proposed purchase, totaling the investment to ₹1.48 crore. However, the accused neither secured the contract nor purchased the boat and allegedly misappropriated the funds.
When Naik stopped responding to Pathan’s calls and did not return the investment, Pathan approached Borivali police, following which an FIR was registered for embezzlement and fraud.
A special police team tracked him down and arrested him on Thursday. “Naik is being interrogated, and the police are attempting to recover the cheated amount,” said a police officer.