The Kharghar police are on the lookout for a man who allegedly cheated a 55-year-old former school teacher of ₹42.09 lakh after promising to marry her through a matrimonial site.
The woman, a resident of Sector 13 in Kharghar, has been staying alone in her apartment for the last five years. In her complaint she said her husband, who was working abroad, was not on talking terms with her, and her daughter who was pursuing higher studies outside Maharashtra.
The woman hence decided to remarry to kill her loneliness and registered with a matrimonial site in September. Within 15 days, she received a proposal from a man identified as Ashfaq Ali who told her that he was a civil engineer working in the U.S.. He also said that he stayed with his mother and daughter, and was looking for a bride as his first wife abandoned him three years ago. The duo started charting on WhatsApp and decided to get married soon.
In October, Mr. Ali told the complainant that he was travelling to Nepal by ship for business. He also said that his mother had suffered a heart attack in the U.S. and was out of money. He requested her to send some money to an account belonging to Jayant Puri Goswami in India. “The accused said the daughter of Mr. Goswami studied with his daughter in the U.S. and that he would make arrangements to send the money to his mother. The complainant initially sent ₹20,000 and then ₹30,000. The accused promised to come to India from Nepal and marry her and also to return the money,” police inspector Mahesh Patil from Kharghar police station said. Later the accused said his ship had anchored in between and there were rumours of pirates looting the mariners and hence he was sending through courier all his valuables, including gold and money, to her residence in Kharghar. The accused also sent her a slip of the courier.
After a few days he told the woman that the courier was stuck with the Customs in Delhi and she would have to get it released. Then another man claiming to be from Delhi airport called her asking to pay up ₹41.59 lakh towards GST, overweight and demurrage charges. The complainant managed to collect the money through her lifelong bank savings, credit card loan, and by mortgaging jewellery.
“After the payment was made, the accused became unreachable. Realising that she was cheated she filed a complaint on December 20. The bank accounts of the accused are in Noida and Jharkhand. We are investigating,” Mr. Patil said.
