‘Friendship club’ owner arrested
A man who was cheating people on the lookout for some quick fun with a ‘friend and dating club’ was arrested on Sunday.
The crook offered “highprofile housewives, models, airhostesses and foreigners” for dating and friendship in return for money.
The accused, Sailesh Kumar Singh, 34, a native of Azamagarh, UP, operating ‘Sareeka Friend Club’, was arrested by city police on Sunday. Police said the accused had cheated around 250 persons to the tune of several lakhs of rupees.
“The accused gave advertisements in newspapers to attract clients. People paid thousands of rupees for his “services” and got cheated. To run away from old clients, he used to change his SIM frequently in a short period of time,” Mr B. Limba Reddy, additional DCP of commissioner’s Task Force said.
“He gives phone numbers in the advertisements, and the clients call him over phone. When he gets a male client, he convinces him by making him speak to a woman over telephone conference. He also makes the client deposit the money in a bank account. However, after getting the money, he neither attends the calls of clients, nor does he provide any ‘date’,” the DCP added.
Sailesh Kumar Singh, who came to the state from UP in 2009, started staying at Jadcherla of Mahabubnagar.
“He started working in a paper mill initially. The next year, when a person from UP started a ‘friendship club’ called Shabnam Friend club, he joined as an assistant and learned of ways to cheat people. After two years, he started his own independent venture,” the investigation officer said. Police said that the accused opened bank accounts using fake names and concealed his identity from the victims.
“He opened an ICICI Bank account under a fictitious name Surya Singh, native of Azamgarh, UP, with the help of forged documents,” the police officer said.
After Saifabad police received a complaint from a victim, the police and commissioner’s task force team, jointly apprehended the accused from his house at Jadcherla.
The accused is kept in Saifabad police station for further action.