A 41-year-old woman from Andheri, Mumbai, was allegedly swindled out of over Rs 55 lakh by a man she met through a popular matrimonial site in October last year.
The police have charged the accused, Samarth Bhaindarkar, who introduced himself to the woman as an employee at a private online shopping company with a monthly salary of Rs 75,000.
The woman, employed as a Management Information System (MIS) executive at a private firm in Goregaon, filed a complaint at the Vile Parle police station on Tuesday.
According to the police, the conman deceived her with the promise of marriage and persuaded her to become his business partner in a mobile phone venture, asking her to invest money. Trusting him, she raised funds by selling her gold jewelry, taking out bank loans, borrowing from relatives, and securing a loan from her employer, ultimately giving Rs 55.42 lakh to her supposed fiancé for his business, as per a police officer.
“Samarth had told the woman that he would soon be giving her share of the profit made from the business. But as he failed to give her money on the stipulated time, she asked him for Rs 68 lakh, which is her share of the profit. He initially ignored her and, in January, sent her a text message saying he is not going to marry her and is cutting off all his communication,” the First Information Report (FIR) stated.
Samarth had introduced himself to the woman as someone who had studied up to Class 12, but came from a prosperous family, with his mother managing a garment business and his father overseeing two stores and houses in Daman, the police mentioned.
According to the complaint, Samarth also claimed he planned to start a business buying mobile phones from Dubai to sell in Mumbai. He persuaded the woman that they could achieve significant profit in the business before their marriage if she became his partner.
“The complainant trusted her and became his partner. Samarth then told her that he had placed a big order of mobile phones, but the order is stuck at the airport for customs duty. He told the woman to arrange for some money. Hence, she gave Samarth her gold ornaments worth around Rs 13 lakh to mortgage,” said an officer.
When Samarth demanded more money for the business, the woman suspected she had been defrauded. Her efforts to recover the money were unsuccessful, leading her to file a complaint, the police said.
The Vile Parle police have booked Samarth under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and 419 (cheating by personation) of the Indian Penal Code and are continuing their investigation, another officer stated.