Impostor poses as channel head, tricks 3 women
NEW DELHI: A 41-year-old BBA degree holder was arrested last week in two cyber crimes involving impersonation, extortion, blackmail, cheating and sexual assault.
Cyber cell officials said Anurag Mendiratta from Delhi’s Dwarka created fake profiles on matrimonial sites, posed as India head of two leading sports channels, and conned three women by promising to marry them.
While two of them filed separate cases against him — first at the CR Park police station and another with special cell’s cyber wing — last year, police are trying to trace his third victim.
Officials said Mendiratta was arrested last week after investigators established his real identity
Mendiratta won the woman and her family’s trust by presenting himself as a prospective groom. He communicated with her through phone and social media portals. KP MALHOTRA, additional DCP (cyber cell)
through technical surveillance. They said they tracked the digital footprint left by him while contacting the victims.
Anyesh Roy, deputy commissioner of police (cyber cell), said Mendiratta had attracted the complainant in the first case, a senior banking executive, by impersonating as Siddharth Oberoi and projecting himself as the India head of leading sports channel. He had told her that he owned a house in Mumbai’s posh Pali Hill, but was settled in Dubai.
Police said Mendiratta befriended the woman and frequently chatted with her through social media platforms. He allegedly made calls to her using virtual private network (VPN) in order to make her believe that he was calling from abroad.
“Once the woman’s trust was gained, Mendiratta met her personally with his real identity and claimed to be Oberoi’s cousin. On social media platform, he continued communicating with her posing as Oberoi and expressed his total indebtedness towards Mendiratta on economical, social and emotional fronts,” said Roy.
Mendiratta allegedly made the victim believe that only he could make her Oberoi’s life partner and, in return, sexually exploited her. “He secretly filmed her and continued exploiting her by threatening to leak the videos,” said KP Malhotra, additional DCP (cyber cell).
When the promise of matrimony was not fulfilled, the woman sensed she was being taken for a ride. She filed a case last year, said Malhotra.
According to Malhotra, a woman working in health sector, filed a case with the cyber cell in May last year and alleged that she was cheated of ₹6 lakh by an imposter, who befriended her through a matrimonial site by posing as Siddharth Walia, India head of a sports channel based in Mumbai.
“In this case, Mendiratta had won the woman and her family’s trust by presenting himself as a prospective groom. He communicated her telephonically and also through social media portals,” said Malhotra.
The woman told police that after few months into friendship, Walia (read Mendiratta) told her he had shifted to the United Kingdom for his ailing father’s treatment. He contacted her through VPN and as the number flashing on her mobile had UK’s code, she believed him, police said.
“Mendiratta tricked her into transferring ₹6 lakh in his account by cooking up a story that the fund transfer from his account in India had encountered some problem and he would return the money once he returns,” Malhotra added.