E-Paper
Woman in Kharghar duped of ₹8.95 lakh for believing black magic would reunite her with her boyfriend
A 27-year-old computer engineer lost ₹8.95 lakh after believing the claims of ‘magic power’ of a man whose videos she saw on the internet; the complainant, in the hope of reuniting with her boyfriend after breaking up with him a year ago, approached him through a contact number she found online; In 12 separate transactions, the complainant paid a total of nearly ₹9 lakh to the accused before realising that she was duped
A 27-year-old computer engineer lost ₹8.95 lakh after believing the claims of ‘magic power’ of a man whose videos she saw on the internet. The complainant, in the hope of reuniting with her boyfriend after breaking up with him a year ago, approached him through a contact number she found online.
The 27-year-old girl, originally from Gujarat, has been residing in Kharghar with a flatmate. The complainant was in a relationship with one Abhishek, who resided in Nanded before they broke up last year. Abhishek had blocked her from all social media sites.
“The complainant started having feelings again for him and wanted to get in touch with him. She tried various ways but was not able to contact him and hence started looking for some solution online. She first found a profile of a lady who was promoting magic power. After contacting the lady identified as Rushsar, she further gave the contact number of one ‘Khan Saab’, whom she claimed to be the one with ‘magic powers’,” said a police officer from Kharghar police station.
‘Khan Saab’ first told the complainant that she had to pay ₹50,000 and also give a photograph of Abhishek to conduct the magic. The first payment was made by the complainant in April. After a few days she asked for the results and the accused told that Abhishek’s friend had been arrested in some case and hence the magic could not work. He further told her to pay ₹1.75 lakh more for the ‘magic’. After paying the second instalment, she again asked for the result in a few days, to which he told that Abhishek’s uncle died and hence there was a delay. In 12 separate transactions, the complainant paid a total of ₹8.95 lakh to the accused. She finally realised that she was conned after the accused was unreachable on WhatsApp and calls. For every transaction, the accused had given separate phone numbers to make the payments. The complainant called on each number but none was reachable.
“We have registered the case as per IPC and IT Acts. As of now, we do not know from where the accused belonged. We are investigating further to trace him,” senior police inspector Sandeepan Shinde from Kharghar police station said.
