The Mumbai Police Crime Branch on Friday arrested an alleged serial scamster who befriended women on matrimonial websites using fake identities and exploited them sexually and financially.
According to the Crime Branch officers, the accused has been identified as 31-year-old Krishna Devkate, a resident of Kalyan who is married and has a four-year-old child. The police said that inquiries were first initiated into the matter in April this year when a 37-year-old woman registered a complaint with Charkop police. Unit XI of the Crime Branch was then instructed to conduct parallel inquiries into the complaint.
A Crime Branch officer said, “The woman, in her complaint, said the accused approached her in January this year and identified himself as Arpit Desai. He claimed to work with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the matrimonial website. They exchanged numbers and started meeting. The complainant claimed that the accused exploited her sexually and used her credit card several times as he was facing financial difficulties.”
Traced to Kalyan
The complainant said that she approached the police after Mr. Devkate continued to withdraw cash up to ₹85,000 using her credit card and refused to return it or meet her. When the Unit XI team obtained his details from the website, they found that all the information he had furnished, except his picture, were fake. The police then obtained the registration details and locations of the number that Mr. Devkate used. They then traced him to his residence in Kalyan and arrested him on Friday.
The officer said, “Inquiries so far have revealed that Mr. Devkate has cheated at least 25 women of over ₹50 lakh. He has similar complaints registered against him at police stations in Charkop, Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai and Hadapsar in Pune. The accused had created multiple fake profiles on various matrimonial websites to scout for potential victims.”
The police have also found out that Mr. Devkate was arrested for a similar offence by Nallasopara police. He had been released from jail after securing bail in the case last year. He then shifted his residence from Nallasopara to Kalyan and resumed to con women.
Mr. Devkate has been charged with cheating and outraging a woman’s modesty under the Indian Penal Code. Crime Branch officers said that he has been handed over to Charkop police for inquiries.
