MANGALURU: Roshan Saldanha created an illusion of power and success through his luxurious bungalow, built the trust of businessmen and industrialists, promised them hundreds of crores in loans at low interest rates, collected crores from them, and disappeared after cheating them.
This is how Roshan Saldanha, a 43-year-old conman from Mangaluru’s Bollagudda Bajal near Kankanady, allegedly defrauded several victims across districts and states, before finally falling into the police net.
On Thursday night, under the guidance of Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy, a CEN police team led by ACP Ravish Naik conducted a raid on Saldanha’s residence. During the operation, police found several secret chambers inside his house, which he allegedly used to disappear suddenly and evade arrest.
According to police sources, the Mangaluru CEN police had registered two cheating cases under Sections 316(2), 316(5), and 318(2) of the BNS against Saldanha this year.
He had allegedly cheated people from Goa, Bengaluru, Pune, Vijayapura, Tumkur, Kolkata, Sangli, Lucknow, Bagalkot, and other regions. Saldanha, posing as a financier, would invite clients, mostly businessmen and industrialists, to his house and promise to arrange loans of over Rs 100 crores.
He would also introduce them to people impersonating lawyers to discuss legal formalities and ask for payments of up to Rs 4 crores as stamp duty, commission, and processing fees, all of which he allegedly demanded in cash. After receiving the money, he would vanish.
During the raid, police discovered a remote-controlled entrance gate, multiple CCTV cameras in and around the house, a fully stocked bar with expensive foreign liquor, and interiors featuring multiple secret chambers and hideouts concealed behind wardrobes and closets. The secret chambers allegedly helped him remain out of public view or avoid clients and police.
Mangaluru City Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy said, “Saldanha, who is involved in multi-crore cheating cases, was absconding and out of reach of police for quite some time. We successfully located him at his house in a secret chamber and took him into custody. The main charges against the accused include promising loans in hundreds of crores of rupees, charging 1 per cent to 2 per cent stamp duty and commission, and then duping the victims. When the police raided the house, incriminating documents, cheques, a diamond ring worth Rs 4 crores, and expensive jewellery and liquor worth more than Rs 6.5 lakhs were also found in his house and the same has been seized under due process.”
An excise case has also been registered against the accused for allegedly possessing liquor quantities far beyond the approved limits at his house. During the investigation, it was found that in the past 3–4 months, fraudulent transactions worth more than Rs 40 crores had allegedly occurred in the accounts of the accused. All previous transactions are being looked into as part of the investigation.
Two FIRs have been registered against the accused in Mangaluru and Chitradurga. According to sources, Saldanha had earlier allegedly duped the owner of a silk saree manufacturing company based in Andhra Pradesh of over Rs 40 lakhs.
The victim had contacted a person associated with a financier in Bengaluru in 2023, through whom he got in touch with Roshan, who allegedly worked as the managing director of a company called 'Sai Finance' in Chitradurga.
Roshan had reportedly asked the victim to pay money for stamp duty, and after collecting around Rs 40 lakhs, he vanished. The victim then lodged a complaint with the Chitradurga police.
“Detailed investigation will reveal all the accused associated with him and the roles of each, the number of victims across the country, and the amount cheated,” the police commissioner said.