FROM HIDING  ROOMS TO SECRETS : THE MYSTERIOUS MANSION 

Mangaluru conman Rohan Saldanha arrested after committing 500 crore fraud. Saldanha was a conman from Jepinamogaru area. He was arrested Mangaluru police , in a midnight operation.

He was accused of defrauding people with fake loans and fake lands and then running away after taking advance money from the clients. He targeted wealthy businessmen for his fraud deals. He allegedly promised  500 crores business loans and real estates investments . He asked his victims to pay an advance of Rs 50 lakh to 4 crores, supposedly for legal clearance and processing fees . Once the payments were made, he would cut all the contacts and disappear. The intensity of the fraud was recorded by the transaction of one of his bank accounts in which 40 crores transaction were made in just three months. 

The raid was carried out by a team , which was lead by police commissioner, Sudhir Kumar Reddy and assistant commissioner of police Ravish Nayak , who discovered a maze of secret rooms and chambers from the luxurious mansion of Saldanha. They discovered that his mansion was built to hide than reveal. His mansion had expensive liquor , rare and antique ornamental plants that cost 3 to 5 lakh each . There were secret rooms that were covered and camouflaged behind walls and cupboards. Police found hidden exits used to avoid confrontation with creditors . 

Police also found embedded doors in walls that lead to underground corridors that made Saldanha escape easily. He had high surveillance system ,special CCTV cameras that covered every part of the property  , making him aware of the visitors. He often showed off his wealth and access to his victims , before ghosting them after the payments were made. 

He is believed to deceive several Indians by flaunting wealth and making them believe that he had connections with financial institutions that could issue a loan up to Rs 600 crore. Police thinks that this can be a case of money laundering . They are trying to investigate how he carried out this operation and doubts that this operation may be connected to larger financial crimes also.

By Line: Anshika Khera