A 32 year old man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly duping senior citizens by pretending to help them withdraw cash from the ATM machine, but instead diverting their attention and taking out cash for himself.
The Vile Parle police, after a complaint from a senior citizen, kept a watch at the same ATM for three days and arrested the accused. The accused confessed of doing similar crimes in other parts of the city.
An FIR was registered after a 67-year-old man filed a complaint against a man who allegedly duped him with ₹13,000 while trying to help him at an ATM.
According to the complaint, the victim was trying to withdraw cash from an ATM in Vile Parle on Saturday, when a man who was present at the ATM saw him withdrawing the money and offered to help him.
The man asked for the ATM card and the pin number and completed the transaction after which he made another transaction and withdrew ₹13,000 from the victim's account and by the time he could realize that another transaction was made, the man fled from the spot.
The police checked the CCTV cameras near the ATM and identified the accused as Shatrughan Mahto, 32 who is a native of Bihar and has multiple cases of similar nature registered against him. The police located his Mumbai address in Bhandup and reached to arrest him but he was not found, after which the police kept a watch at the ATM for three days. He was finally spotted near the ATM and was arrested by the police.
A case under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 420 (cheating) was registered against the accused. The accused also had an accomplice, a native of Bihar who is at large, said the police.
