In a new method of fraud, cashew traders from Belgaum and Chandgad have suffered a collective loss of ₹14 lakh after being cheated by truck drivers during the weighing process.
The scam involved drivers adding people, stones, and water barrels during the truck’s initial weighing to inflate the weight, only to remove them before the actual loading of cashew nuts. As a result, nearly 10 tonnes of raw cashews were stolen.
Amitkumar Krishna Patil from Tudiye (Tal. Chandgad) faced a loss of ₹4.14 lakh after ordering 102 tonnes, from which around 3 tonnes were stolen by drivers Sunil and Prashant, who later sold them to Suraj Jayanapur. Meanwhile, Anant Pandurang Kulkarni from Belgaum (Res. Sahyadrinagar) incurred a loss of ₹9.87 lakh when over 7 tonnes were stolen from his 283-tonne consignment by seven unidentified drivers.
In total, ten trucks were involved in the theft. This calculated fraud has dealt a serious blow to the already struggling cashew industry. Following Amitkumar Patil’s complaint, a cheating case has been filed against 11 unidentified persons, including three known individuals. The investigation is being led by Police Constable Satish Kurane.
