From palatial residence to secret hideouts: All about high-profile Mangaluru conman held in multi-crore scam

Police conducted a raid at the residence of fraudster Rohan Saldana. (Screengrab)

A 45-year-old man, Rohit Saldhana, was arrested by the Mangaluru Police for allegedly defrauding ultra-wealthy businessmen and industrialists of hundreds of crores.

All of his secret hideouts were revealed after Mangaluru Police went to his luxurious home in the Jappinamogaru locality for a midnight raid.

His modus operandi? Known for posing as a wealthy businessman with influential connections, Rohan Saldanha allegedly duped several people across India by promising massive business loans at incredibly low interest rates and real estate deals — some worth up to Rs 500 crore.

#WATCH | Karnataka | Police conducted a raid at the residence of fraudster Rohan Saldana and detained him, late last night in Mangaluru pic.twitter.com/Wy02JnRm2W

— ANI (@ANI) July 18, 2025

The arrest operation, led by Mangaluru Police Commissioner Sudheer Kumar Reddy and Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravish Nayak, has stunned investigators, not only for the sheer scale of the fraud, but also for what they found inside Saldanha’s palatial residence, according to a report by News18.

Saldanha would pose as a high-level financier and used his lavish bungalow in Mangaluru's Jappinamogaru to create an illusion of power, success, and trust.

To make his act look genuine, he would go a step further and introduce a fake lawyer with the name of a popular lawyer from the region and would make people speak to the lawyer for verification of documents and other legal formalities.

He would then ask the people to pay money for registration and stamp duty. This ran into crores and in some instances, he even took Rs 10 crore, according to a report by NDTV.

After collecting the money, Saldanha would disappear without a trace, leaving his victims shocked and defrauded.

During the search as his residence, cops found more than expensive interiors. His home included cleverly concealed sections and hideouts, a design seemingly intended to aid sudden disappearances and long stays out of public view. Officers said that the closets and wardrobes led to concealed areas, allowing him to remain undetected during critical times.

As per the investigators, this allowed him time to evade suspicious clients. One of his bank accounts recorded over Rs 40 crore in transactions in just three months, according to India Today, suggesting that the actual scale of the fraud could be much larger than currently known.

So far, police has registered three official cases, two in Mangaluru and one in Chitradurga against him. However, there might be several more victims who haven't yet reported the fraud.