32-year-old Bengaluru techie cheated of Rs 1.5 Lakh by prospective brother-in-law

BENGALURU: A 32-year-old techie, who was searching for a groom for his sister, lost about Rs 1.5 lakh after his prospective brother-in-law conned him by making him pay clearance tax for gifts he had allegedly sent from abroad.

The Koramangala police registered a case against the accused Krishna Mahendar, who claimed to be an architect, and two women who claimed they were customs officials.

A senior police officer said, Sahu Saxena (name changed), a resident of Jakkasandra, said in the police complaint that Mahendar had contacted his family last month for a marriage alliance with his younger sister after Saxena had uploaded her photo in Shaadi.com. Two weeks ago, he informed Saxena that he had sent gifts to his sister and he wanted him to collect it from the customs department by paying the tax.

Later, two women who claimed to be custom officials contacted Saxena to share the bank account details, where he transferred Rs 28,000. Two days later, one of the woman called him again and demanded Rs 95,000 as further fee. 

After transferring the money, Saxena called the woman and Mahendar to confirm if the transaction had been completed and found that their mobile numbers were switched off. After trying a couple of times, he realised that he was conned by his prospective brother-in-law.

He filed a case with the Koramangala police.

Speaking to TNIE, Saxena said that Mahendar had introduced himself as a 34-year old man, who was born and brought up in USA.

He further added that after realising that he had been conned, he even tried to do a video call with the accused.He revealed that Mahendar’s account on Shaadi.com had now been deactivated.