Nigerian among two arrested for duping woman of Rs 41 lakh

The two had lured the woman from Puri district of the state to deposit the amount in a number of accounts on different occasions in lieu of valuable gifts like laptops and ornaments

Odisha Police has arrested two persons, including a Nigerian citizen, from New Delhi for duping a woman of Rs 41 lakh. The two had lured the woman from Puri district of the state to deposit the amount in a number of accounts on different occasions in lieu of valuable gifts like laptops and ornaments, police said. The arrested duo was brought here on transit remand and produced before a Puri court on Monday, said a release issued by the crime branch headquarters.

The accused are Nwabueza Chukwudi Vincet (35), a Nigerian, who was residing in Uttam Nagar area of New Delhi and Piyush Arya (22), also a resident of the national capital. On suspicion that she was being cheated, the woman had
reported the matter at the cyber police station here.

In another incident, a 38-year-old woman working with a consultancy firm here in Maharashtra was allegedly duped of Rs 7.3 lakh by a UK-based man whom she befriended on a matrimonial portal, police said. The complainant, who is separated from her husband and lives with her parents here, told the police that while going through the matrimonial site some months back, she befriended the accused, identified as Donald William (23), who claimed to be from Belgravia in London.

The man later told the woman that he had sent her a gift parcel and she could take it by making certain payment to a courier company, Thane police spokesperson Sukhada Narkar said. The woman alleged that between June 17 and August 9 this year, the accused asked her to make payments several times worth Rs 7.3 lakh to the courier firm on various pretexts, like customs clearance of gifts sent by him and wrong labelling of the parcels, Narkar said.

The accused also told her once that he had arrived in New Delhi but was indisposed and so, could not meet her. However, when the woman did not receive any gift parcel and the accused stopped communicating with her, she got suspicious and filed a complaint with the Rabodi police Monday night, Narkar said.

Based on her complaint, the police registered offences against the man and two persons working with a Delhi-based courier firm under IPC section 420 (cheating) and relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act, she said. No arrest has been made so far, Narkar said, adding that a probe is on into the complaint.

With inputs from PTI

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