Two held for duping elderly woman of ` 40L in Nagpada

The Nagpada police arrested two persons for allegedly duping an elderly woman of Rs 40 lakh offering her prosperity claims. The accused have been identified as Hanif Shaikh, 30 and Imran Sayyad, who posing as Islamic scholars allegedly lured the 82-year-old woman and duped her to the tune of Rs 40 lakh in the last two years.

According to the police, in order to dupe the woman, Shaikh claimed to be possessed by a genie while Sayyad promised the woman to shower money.

The incident came to light when the woman emptied all her bank balance and ended up asking money from her relatives when she demanded Rs 5 lakh from her son-inlaw. When her son-in-law came to her house to check, the two told him that money had been kept safe inside a cupboard. However, when they opened the cupboard, they could find only a fake currency from a children's game.

According to the police, the woman is religious and used to follow one spiritual woman named Zinat Apa for the last 30 years. In 2019 Zinat introduced her to Shaikh, who as per Zinat has spiritual powers and could help the victim to sort out all the problems.