MUMBAI: Sakinaka police on Wednesday arrested a college drop-out from
Odisha for duping at least 25 persons, including a retired banker, of lakhs of rupees in the past four months, after convincing them that the unguarded ATM they were at had drained of money or was non-functional.
Before the victims could think of cancelling their transaction on the ATM, Sambhav Achariya (28) would convince them to leave and advise them on what to do after entering ATM premises.
Police received complaints from a retired chief bank manager from Odisha on June 29 and a freelance journalist on August 9 that they were duped of Rs36,000 and Rs25,000 respectively. Both pointed out how the bank delayed transaction alerts.
Police said he targeted 25 kiosks of one nationalised bank in
Andheri (E&W), Bandra, Borivli, Kandivli and
Malad. “Achariya wore the same shirt as he considered it lucky since he started committing offences in May. His used to target around six persons each time he visited Mumbai twice a month, and would splurge some of the Rs 1.5 lakh he got on shopping. He would stay in a 3-star hotel, fly from Odisha to Mumbai and back, and would pre-book an SUV before his arrival here. Achariya is in judicial custody but we could get his custody after another case is registered against him by a retired bank manager,” said a police officer.
DCP (zone X) Navinchandra Reddy supervised a team of senior inspector Kishore Sawant, inspector Sunil Mane, sub-inspector Sandip Salunkhe and detection staff, that first detained the SUV driver who Achariya would contact. “We learnt that he would come to Mumbai airport on August 28. We followed the SUV and arrested him from the hotel room. Achariya said he targeted victims here as he did not get huge sums in Odisha,” police said.
The bank’s officials were not available for comment.
Representative image 
