HT Exclusive: Man who duped over 40 women arrested

Shaikh would take money from his victims saying that he needed to start a business that could support them after marriage.

A man who cheated over 40 women in Mumbai was arrested by the Agripada police on Wednesday. Noor Sahab Shaikh, 26, who is a site manager in Bandra, has been conning women into giving him money under the pretext of marrying them since 2008, but was arrested for the first time, police said.

Shaikh would take money from his victims saying that he needed to start a business that could support them after marriage. After he got the money, he would ignore them, police said.

Shaikh was residing in a construction site in Bandra, and had formed a gang with two more men. One of them was arrested on Thursday. The police said Shaikh had also cheated women in Pune.

Two months ago, a case of cheating was registered against him by an 18-year-old girl, who had been approached by Shaikh near Bandra railway station.

An officer from Agripada police station said, “The modus operandi that Shaikh followed would be to approach any girl he felt would fall for his claims. He would ask the girl to let him make a call from her phone as his cell phone’s battery was drained.”

However, when Shaikh started ignoring her calls, the girl realised that she has been duped by Shaikh, after which she informed her parents, who then approached the police station.

“After a case was registered, we then started scanning his call data records and we then set up a trap. We called him on the pretext of paying some money in Bandra and then caught him,” added an officer.

The accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and has been remanded in police custody, while cops are still looking for the third accused.

On July 20, the Vile Parle police arrested Rahul Patil, 32, who would approach woman through matrimonial websites, and on the pretext of marrying them, would dupe them into giving him money.