Dadar resident duped of ₹18L by neighbour who posed as army officer

A 33-year-old resident of Dadar, Mumbai was duped of ₹18 lakh by a fake army officer who promised him highly discounted electronic items from the army canteen. The accused gained the victim's trust by buying him an iPhone 13 at a discounted price before fleeing with the money. The police have registered a case and suspect that the accused was a fraud who planned the scam.

MUMBAI: A 33-year-old Dadar resident was duped by a fake army officer of ₹18 lakh who promised the victim of getting electronic items at highly discounted rates from the army canteen.

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Police officials said the accused, identified as CK Manikanta, a neighbour of the victim, Raghu Tumma, gained his trust after buying him an ‘iPhone 13’ for ₹42,000, which is available in the market for ₹72,000. The accused later took ₹18 lakh from the complainant and his relatives under the guise of a bulk order and fled with the money.

The Dadar police have registered a case based on the complaint lodged by Tumma. According to his complaint, in December 2021, CK Manikanta came to stay next to Tumma’s apartment. Manikanta told the complainant that his father was a corporator in Andhra Pradesh and his mother a doctor.

“The accused told Tumma that he was working with the Indian Army and transferred to Mumbai recently. In their brief conversations in May 2022, Manikanta told Tumma that from the army canteen, he gets huge discounts on electronic devices. He told him that he could get an iPhone13 for ₹42,000 against its market price of ₹72,000, said the police officer. Accordingly, the complainant paid him ₹42,000 and got an iPhone 13. Later his four friends also purchased mobile handsets at highly discounted rates.

“This way he gained the confidence of the complainant and later told him that if he and his relatives needed any electronics, he could purchase the same for them as well at discounted rates. He then took ₹6.76 lakh and even used the complainant’s credit cards to the tune of ₹1.2 lakh and took an additional amount of ₹10 lakh from the complainant in the name of purchasing a room. Later he left the place to visit his native for some work and did not return,” said the police officer.

He had used the complainant’s credit card, saying he could gain reward points if he used the card for making the purchases. “After the accused who identified himself as an army officer fled the place, the complainant went on to check through his credit card from where the electronic goods were purchased and found out that he had purchased all five phones from Croma and Reliance Digital outlets in Dadar,” said the police officer.

The police said they suspected the accused was a fraud who in a well-planned conspiracy cheated the victims and fled with ₹18 lakh. The complainant works for a private company.