Om Dattu BalliA 16-year-old boy who fell victim to cyber fraud allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train at Kanjurmarg railway station on December 8. Last week, the Powai police registered a case of abetment to suicide and cheating against two unidentified persons. The police took the step after a suicide note left behind by the boy revealed that he had been duped of Rs 10,400 after being promised a cellphone at a cheaper rate.
In the first week of December, Om Dattu Balli, a Class XI science student, started looking for a cellphone on online portals. He shortlisted a MI Note Pro 5 on a portal and approached the seller.
His father Dattu Balli said: “A man named Praveen posed as the seller. Om approached him on the given phone number. He claimed that he works for the Army and was ready to sell the phone at a cheaper rate. After sharing images of the phone and the bill receipt, the two negotiated and agreed on Rs 10,400.” Later, the fraudster asked him to transfer the amount through Paytm. Om used his mother’s debit card to transfer the money.
Following this, the fraudster claimed that the parcel had been dispatched through a courier company. When his attempts to call the courier’s number went unanswered, Om tried to contact Praveen and realised that he had been duped. “On December 8, around 11.30 pm, my wife received a call from an unknown person saying that Om has been seen at Kanjurmarg station. He said Om had been sitting there for a while. My wife asked the caller to stay with him and left for Kanjurmarg station along with my elder son Shubham,” said Dattu.
Before they could reach the station, they received a call from a police officer asking them to come to Rajawadi hospital. There, Shubham identified Om’s body. A suicide note was also recovered from Om’s pocket.
“In a four-page suicide note in English and Marathi, he apologised to his mother for taking the extreme step and also described how he was cheated. He held the people who duped him responsible for his death,” Dattu said.
Om’s family, residents of the Sakivihar area in Powai, went on to file a complaint with the Powai police and the Kurla GRP. Last week, the Powai police registered a case under sections 306 (abetment to suicide), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intension) of the IPC. “We checked his cellphone and found his chats with the two fraudsters,” said Dattu.
Investigators said they are trying to locate the suspects through the call data record. “We have obtained three mobile numbers from which the suspects contacted Om. We have started tracing two suspects,” said an officer. The Mumbai Police Crime Branch is conducting a parallel probe into the case.
