26 June,2016 08:39 AM IST | | Faisal Tandel
A 31-year-old account manager, working with a private firm in Turbhe, was allegedly cheated by a Sierra Leone national of Rs 3.51 lakh
The accused, Morewel Illia, with the police. Pic/Navneet Barhate
A 31-year-old account manager, working with a private firm in Turbhe, was allegedly cheated by a Sierra Leone national of Rs 3.51 lakh. The accused, Morewel Illia, 27, was arrested by the police on Friday and was produced in court on Saturday in Navi Mumbai, and remanded to police custody.
The accused, Morewel Illia, with the police. Pic/Navneet Barhate
The complainant Nitin Patil is a resident of Panvel and works as an account manager with Advance Bolting Solution Private Limited firm. The firm deals with machine importing, sales and service.
Patil, in his statement to the police, said that the director of the firm, L Balsubramanium, went to America on work on June 18. "On June 21, at around 3.50 pm, I received an email from Bala's official id on my company email ID. Pretending to be Bala, the accused asked me to deposit Rs 3,51,210 in a Bengaluru-based account. I transferred the money through the company account of a bank branch based in Mahape in Navi Mumbai as I thought it was an emergency. Then, I got another email asking for another R9 lakh," said Patil. He asked the IT technicians to check the email ID, which turned out to be fake. He then contacted the director, who denied asking for money.
On June 22, Patil met a bank manager at the Mahape bank, who in turn got in touch with the Bengaluru bank. Patil further approached the Cyber Cell department of Navi Mumbai and thus, the account was frozen. The police, during their investigation, found that the account was in the name of Rowan Alwin, a Sierra Leone national.
"On Thursday, the accused called his bank asking why his account was frozen. When he visited the bank, he was arrested," said a police officer from Turbhe MIDC police station. Ram Deskmukh, Senior Police Inspector, Turbhe MIDC police station, said, "His name on the passport is also fake. We are now interrogating him," Deskmukh added. A case hasbeen registered at the Turbhe MIDC police station in Navi Mumbai under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and under the Information Technology Act.
The accused has been identified as Morewl Illia, 27, a student with Cambridge College in Bengaluru. "He claims that his friend Jack committed the act. He was just asked to get the cash. We are looking for his friend," said Arjun Gaikwad, Assistant Police Inspector, Turbhe MIDC.
