‘US intel officer’ held for cheating Pune woman of Rs 10 lakh

PUNE: The cybercrime cell of the city police on Friday arrested a man (25) in a cheating case after a 28-year-old fashion designer accused him of cheating her of nearly Rs 10 lakh.
In her complaint, the woman said she had met the man on a matrimonial website. He claimed to be an officer with a US intelligence agency, gained her confidence and, between April and May this year, tricked her out of cash and valuables totalling Rs 9.65 lakh.
In reality, the suspect, Amit Chavan, is a water filter technician from Baramati. The police arrested him at his home on Thursday night and impounded his car. His custody was later transferred to Chatushrungi police.
A magisterial court has remanded Chavan in police custody till July 12.
Sub-inspector Prem Waghmare said Chavan assumed the alias of Rahul Patil and met the woman on a matrimonial site. “He claimed to be a US intelligence officer for India and Dubai. The two became friendly and decided to get married,” Waghmare said.
Chavan told the complainant that he had contacts in Gujarat, who could help her buy clothes at a low rate. “On this pretext, the suspect took her smartphone, debit card and PIN, and withdrew Rs 8.37 lakh from multiple ATMs. He also took away her laptop worth Rs 1.28 lakh,” Waghmare said.
The woman soon realised she had been tricked once she came to know he was not a US intelligence officer. “On visiting her bank, she found out that Chavan had withdrawn huge amounts using her debit card,” Waghmare said.
“After multiple futile attempts to reach him, she submitted a complaint application on July 2. After a preliminary inquiry, the police registered an FIR on Thursday pertaining to criminal breach of trust, cheating, and impersonation under sections 406, 420 and 170 of the IPC, respectively,” Waghmare said.
On how they traced him, the woman told police about the last time they met and how Chavan’s car developed a technical snag. He got the vehicle towed for repairs. She shared the vehicle registration number with police.