The suspect in police custody in Chandigarh. (Kamleshwar Singh)A 30-year-old M.Tech graduate, Snigdha Saurav Dash, who runs an online consultancy service, was arrested for allegedly duping two staffers of Manchanda Money Changer, Sector 32, of 10,000 Euros (around Rs 8.10 lakh) in December last year.
Police said Dash was earlier a consultant and research analyst with an US-based digital cable and satellite television network from 2012 to 2017. He used to spend the money in gambling at a casino in Kathmandu, Nepal. He was fluent in several foreign languages, including French, Russian and Italian, they added.
Dash was arrested from a hotel in Connaught Place, Delhi, on January 8. He was in police custody and sent to Model Burail jail. He was earlier arrested for duping a Delhi-based money changer of $8,000 in 2016. Police said interrogation revealed he had also cheated money changers in foreign countries, too.
Dash’s father died years ago and his mother and a younger sister reside in Karnal, Haryana. He hails from Odisha but was residing in Delhi, police said. He completed his B.Tech and M.Tech from an college in Nagpur and MBA from a business school in Ghaziabad.
DSP (crime) Pawan Kumar said, “Dash fled Chandigarh, went to Delhi and then to Nepal by road. He is a habitual gambler and lost all the money at a casino in Kathmandu. He returned from Nepal on January 2. His passport and visa verification revealed that he had visited Hong Kong, Singapore and Macau. He used to search for details of money changers online and contacted them after doing complete ground work in the city concerned. He had once visited Chandigarh before cheating two employees of Manchanda Money Changer in Sector 9. He had booked a cabin for two hours after submitting a fake ID through online on December 24 last year.”
A police source said, “Dash got opportunities to visit foreign countries while working with the satellite channel and developed his contacts there between 2012 and 2017. Later, he started to frequently go to foreign countries, especially for gambling. His images were captured on CCTV camera installed at the Sector 9 outlet. He was arrested when he returned from Nepal.” A case against him
was registered at Sector 3 police station.
