Conman dupes woman of `17.5 lakh, arrested

A 30-year-old divorcee was duped of over `17.5 lakh, by a man whom she met on a matrimonial site, on the pretext of getting her brother admitted to a prestigious institute in Mumbai. The woman met Abhishek Sanghavi (34) through shaadi.com in 2014. He introduced himself as the owner of a production house in Mumbai by the name of Lemon Kraft Private Limited.

The accused impressed the woman and her family by showing off a Harley Davidson bike along with a lavish lifestyle. As the woman and the accused got closer, she told him that her brother aspired to get admission in the prestigious Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai for his MBA.

Abhishek told her that he had good contacts in the institute since he knew one of the trustees and could get her brother in easily. He asked the woman to arrange `23

◗ The accused had promised the woman to get her brother admitted to a prestigious management institute in Mumbai

lakh for her brother’s admission. Out of this amount, `17 lakh was his fees and the remaining amount was to be paid as donation to the institute, police said.

Between November 2014 and May 2015, the woman’s family arranged `17.5 lakh and transferred the money to the various bank accounts given by the accused. After receiving the amount, he even mailed a forged receipt to her brother that guaranteed him admission to the institute.

However, when his name did not appear in the list of candidates shortlisted by the institute, the woman’s brother grew suspicious. Around the same time Abhishek stopped responding to them and his number was found to be disconnected.

The woman, however, continued to be optimistic. She believed that Abhishek would get in touch with her. Later things started to unravel when they learnt that he was a conman and had cheated others.

However, the family did not give up hope and made efforts to trace him in the last year or so. After failing to establish any contact with him, the family filed a police complaint at the Dwarka (North) police station on June 23.

The police started scanning Abhishek’s social media profiles. They also contacted a mobile phone company whose number he was using to contact the girl and found a photograph of him. Later, they contacted the matrimonial website and found out that he had created a new profile there. Posing as a girl, a police official got in touch with the accused.

A meeting was arranged between the ‘girl’ and Abhishek and the latter was arrested from Thane in Maharashtra on June 25.