E-Paper
Credit card fraud: Police clean chit to techie, BPO girl now main accused
Projected earlier as the prime accused in a R10-lakh BPO credit card fraud case, the Gurgaon police have now decided to drop charges against an Odisha-based IT professional.
Projected earlier as the prime accused in a Rs 10-lakh BPO credit card fraud case, the Gurgaon police have now decided to drop charges against an Odisha-based IT professional.
In January, Arti Gupta (24), a former employee of BPO Convergys was arrested for stealing credit card details of foreign clients and using it for online shopping of goods and gadgets worth lakhs.
She had named IT professional Neelabh Shankar as the mastermind and told the police that he wooed her and prompted her to commit the fraud.
A month after investigation, the Cyber Crime Cell of the Gurgaon police found Shankar to be innocent and it emerged that Gupta was the main culprit. She is out on bail at present.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Maheshwar Dayal said, “The girl had trapped an innocent man. When the case came to light, we asked Shankar to come to Gurgaon and prove his innocence. He had no role in the fraud but was made a part of the crime. We have dropped charges against him as his career was getting affected. We request the young generation to be careful while making friends and remain alert while talking to strangers.”
HT had contacted Shankar and he presented his side of the story. Gupta, a resident of Tilak Nagar in Delhi, spoke to Shankar for the first time after he dialled a wrong number.
At first, they were phone friends but Gupta allegedly befriended him and lied about her identity. She had claimed to be the owner of a call centre and a petrol pump. Gupta reportedly used to send expensive gifts to Shanker in Odisha using the stolen credit card information. She even bought air tickets for him to come to Delhi and sponsored his hotel stay and travel.
Shankar claimed that Gupta passed on credit card details of some foreign national claiming it was her uncle's.
After a period of three months, the main accused asked the man to marry her.
Shankar was also serious about the relationship and spoke to his family about marriage but his father doubted the girl's credentials. Shankar then did not speak to Gupta for a month.
In the meantime, the credit card scam was busted and the police contacted Shankar.
