Jammu: Crime Branch of police on Monday registered a case against six people hailing from different parts of the country for allegedly duping a woman of Rs 4.37 lakh on the pretext of marriage, an official said.
The case was registered based on a complaint filed by the woman, a resident of Jammu.
The accused were identified as Atom Roy, Zahir Hussain and Sartaj Hussain of West Bengal, Hazrat Ali of Bihar, Vinay Kumar of Delhi and Huinu of Manipur, a crime branch spokesperson said.
The woman said a person befriended her on a social media platform and later proposed to marry her. The person then claimed to have sent a parcel to her despite her reluctance to accept it.
After a few days, accused Roy introduced himself as customs officer and told her to give custom duties of Rs 45,500 to claim the parcel, the spokesman said, adding that Roy again called her the next day to inform that the parcel had 1,00,000 pounds.
The woman said she contacted the sender who asked her to do as the “so-called custom people” wanted.
The spokesman said she received “an e-mail regarding anti-money laundering certificate for which she had to pay Rs 1,18,900 and another e-mail on behalf of Foreign Remittance Department, RBI, for which she had to pay Rs 2,73,000”.
Suspecting foul play, the woman then contacted international bank services in Srinagar and came to know that she was trapped in a scam.
On receipt of her complaint, a preliminary verification was conducted and oral and documentary evidence was collected which prima facie substantiated the allegations against the accused, the crime branch spokesperson said.
He said it has been found that the accused have opened various bank accounts on fake and forged documents and obtained various SIM cards besides making fake Instagram accounts by impersonation and used the internet through fraudulent e-mails/Whatsapp and allured the complainant and other gullible victims to cheat them.
“In this manner the gang of fraudsters duped the complainant of her money to the tune of Rs 4,37,400 by fraudulent means,” the spokesman said.
Further investigation into the matter was on and efforts are being made to nab the accused, the spokesperson said.
