‘I-T OFFICIALS’ CON KALYAN RESIDENT OUT OF 70 LAKH

KALYAN: Seven people, posed as income tax officials, and cheated a Kalyan resident of Rs70 lakh. The accused are yet to be arrested.

The seven accused have been identified as Adam Evans, Sunita Sharma, Abdul Wahab, P Simra, Vandana Menon, Jamuna Kurekha and Ronand Gilbuld.

The 42-year-old victim Asha Gulati (name changed) is an officer with an insurance firm in Thane and is resident of Kalyan. The police said they have not revealed her identity as the accused are yet to be arrested.

In January this year, Gulati said she got a call from a person who posed as an officer from income tax department. He asked Gulati to deposit Rs10 lakh or they would raid her house in Murbad Road, Kalyan.

After a few days, Gulati got a mail from the accused, who sent her an attachment of an ID card of RBI. Gulati got scared and paid the amount in instalments. From January to June, she paid Rs70 lakh.

A police inspector from Khadakpada police station said, “Gulati and her husband were separated. She met the main accused Adam Evans on a social networking site and planned to get married. He said he was about to deposit 70,000 pounds and asked her to pay the tax charges. When he realised that the woman can pay such a huge amount, the accused posed as fake IT officers and demanded Rs 10 lakh initially.”

She deposited the money in bank account number given by the accused. When Gulati asked for proof that they were I-T officials, the accused sent a fake ID card through WhatsApp.

“Even after Gulati paid the amount, the accused kept calling and harassing him every alternate day. One day, Gulati called them to tell them that she had already paid a hefty amount, but their phone was switched off,” said the police.

“As per Gulati’s complaint, there are seven accused but we suspect there are more,” added officer.

The police are going through the bank account, which has been frozen, from where the money was withdrawn. They are also tracing the numbers from which the accused called Gulati. The police have alerted the cyber cell about the case.