NEW DELHI: When a man who claimed to be a doctor practising in the UK reached out to her on a matrimonial website, Shalini (name changed), also a doctor, responded immediately. After a month of interacting with him over the net, she was convinced that he was the one she was destined to marry. She hadn't anticipated in her wildest dreams what was in store. Over the next six months she would be duped of Rs 48 lakh and the prospective groom would disappear.
According to a police complaint filed by Shalini, a resident of Hyderabad, in April, she had met Abhishek Mohan on the website and started chatting with him on the site's personal messaging system. Mohan claimed he was a British citizen of Indian origin and worked as an orthopedic surgeon with the British Army on a UN humanitarian mission in Iraq.
READ ALSO: FB friend dupes 67-yr-old woman of 11 lakhShe said that he would call her from UK numbers and a Indian number, which he said was on international roaming. He insisted that they shift their regular chats to Viber VOIP platform.
After a few days, Mohan informed her that he had purchased some expensive medical equipment as UN doctors get a lot of discounts and that the Iraqi government had gifted him some jewellery and gold as an appreciation for an anti-terrorist operation.
Shalini said that after a few months, he proposed marriage, adding that he would come and meet her family members in April 2015 as his mission was almost over. He offered to send the jewellery, medical equipment and about Rs 5 crore to her address saying that he did not trust his relatives in India.
READ ALSO: Conmen who duped woman of Rs 7cr heldAccording to the plan, the parcel was to reach India on April 7. Shalini received a call the following day from a person who claimed to be an inspector with the customs department saying that the consignment was worth several crores and could not be allowed in without a clearance fee being paid at Delhi airport.
Abhishek called her a few hours later and asked her to pay the custom clearance fee. Shalini was asked to transfer Rs 20 lakh to an account.
After the money was paid, the 'custom officer' kept asking for more payments on different grounds like 'money laundering clearance' and 'anti-terrorist funding clearance'. Shalini borrowed money from friends and took a bank loan to pay for these so-called clearances.
READ ALSO: Naga woman, Nigerian man held for fraudAfter depositing over Rs 48,00,000 she called Abhishek to inform him about the payment but found his number switched off. She then enquired with airport officials and found out that there was no parcel in her name pending customs clearance.
Shalini then informed the crime branch in Hyderabad and the case was transferred to the Delhi Police special cell. "Raids were conducted by teams led by inspectors Kailash Singh Bisht and Umesh Barthwal after which two men and a woman were arrested from a hideout in Gurgaon," said deputy commissioner of police (special cell).
The crooks were identified as Joseph Irabor Bhahemen (26), Bawo Hilary Omagbemi (35) from Nigeria and Leniya Magh (26) from Nagaland.
Investigations revealed that the profile of Abhisekh Mohan had expressed interest in 192 girls on the site. The men were in touch with over a dozen women and were in an advanced stage of extracting money fromthem.
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