Sleuths of the Manikpur police have arrested a 42-year-old school dropout who donned the fake persona of a highly paid architect on the platform of a popular matrimonial website to cheat women of their money.
The action followed after a woman living in Vasai registered a complaint with the Manikpur police that a person (name withheld) whom she met on the matrimonial site cheated her of Rs. 13.81 lakh. The accused created a fake profile of a successful architect and promised to marry the woman.
He began seeking money from her under the pretext of getting a loan sanctioned on her behalf. When the women got more emotionally invested in him, he began demanding larger amounts and finally fled with the money and her car.
A police team led by Senior Police Inspector- Rajendra Kamble under the supervision of DCP- Sanjaykumar Patil and ACP- Ashwini Patil immediately started investigations into the case. “We scanned his profiles and used technical details to track him but he kept changing his location. Finally, we managed to apprehend him from his hideout in Pune.” said Kamble.
Investigations revealed that the accused who is a native of Vambori village of Rahuri in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra is suspected to have cheated three more women using a similar modus operandi. The police have also recovered the car and a part of the cheated money from the possession of the accused.
An offence under section 406 and 420 of the IPC has been registered against the accused who has been remanded to police custody. The police have cautioned people-especially aspiring bridegrooms from trusting friends or prospective life partners on social media sites with money and private details unless their identities are personally verified.
Further investigations were underway.
