Nagpur Crime Branch arrests 7 from Gujarat for Rs 20 lakh 'foreign groom' marriage fraud on woman
Police say the interstate gang posed as a foreign groom and claimed gold and dollars were stuck in customs to cheat a woman of about Rs 20 lakh.
The Nagpur Crime Branch has busted an interstate gang that allegedly posed as a foreign groom, promised marriage and cheated a woman of about Rs 20 lakh by claiming that gold and dollars were stuck in customs. Police have arrested seven members of the gang.
Police seized a car, a two-wheeler, mobile phones and cash, together worth Rs 18.45 lakh. The gang was reportedly running an international fraud network from Nagpur. The accused are suspected of links to a hawala business operating from Dubai.
The arrested are Jeyash Amrit Thakur (20), Yashpal Aam Singh Chauhan (24), Kuldeep Singh Vikram Jadeja (26), Rajendra Singh Rana Vaghela (34), Narpat Babu Singh (27), Upendra Nagji Joshi (28) and Bhanu Singh Jaswant Singh Vaghela (29). All of them are residents of different districts of Gujarat.
The case began when the woman received a phone call from an unknown man. During the conversation he built up an acquaintance with her and said he had a large business abroad. He said he wanted to come to India, marry her and settle here.
To win her trust, the accused said he was in the gold business and owned a clothing mall in Britain. He then said he was bringing 70 tola of gold and 70,000 US dollars with him to India. Some time later he phoned to say that customs officials at Delhi airport had detained him.
He said Rs 13.92 lakh would have to be deposited to get the gold and dollars released. Trusting him, the woman transferred the amount. Even after extorting about Rs 20 lakh, the accused kept asking for more money, and the woman grew suspicious.
Considering the seriousness of the matter, the cyber police and a Unit 3 team began a technical investigation. The accused's mobile phones and transactions gave police important leads. The accused were preparing to trap the complainant again and extort more money.
Police then laid a trap with the complainant's help and caught all seven accused. Preliminary information from questioning indicates that the accused were running an interstate and international fraud racket from Nagpur.
Police are now checking whether the network is linked to a hawala business running in Dubai. The accused's bank accounts, mobile phones and financial transactions are also being examined.
After a medical examination, all the accused were handed over to Ganeshpeth police for further action. The operation was carried out under the guidance of DCP Deepak Agrawal and ACP Vaibhav Jadhav by Inspector Atul Mohankar, PSI Amol Deshmukh, Madhukar Kathoke, Vivek Jhingre and their team.
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