Mumbai: 71-year-old woman cheated of Rs 4.35 crore, five held

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A 71-year-old woman from south Mumbai was allegedly cheated of Rs. 4.35 crore. The police have nabbed five people in connection with the case, an official said on Saturday.

A gang of five people have been apprehended by the Cuffe Parade Police in Mumbai for allegedly deceiving the senior citizen woman of Rs 4.35 crore under the guise of securing Rs 11 crore from the Employers Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), an official said on Saturday.

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As per the police sources, the woman, Abaaj Hirjikaka had filed a complaint, claiming that she was lured by another woman who subsequently threatened her, resulting in the extraction of approximately Rs 4.35 crore from her.

The incident was reported to the police on October 25, prompting an investigation that led to the arrest of a total of five suspects. Approximately Rs 44 lakh has also been recovered by the police in connection with the case, an official said.

Initially, a suspect- Vasant Sharma alias Sanjay Kumar Upreti (58), and Hemant Sharma (26), both residents of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, were arrested from Sector 63 in Noida. During their interrogation, three more individuals - Gautam Gopal Verma (36), Rahmatullah Khan (46), and Akhtar Hussain (19) - were apprehended in Delhi.

Verma hails from Ghaziabad, while Khan and Hussain are from Gorakhpur, sources added.

The officials stated that as many as 43 debit cards were seized from the suspects. Further investigations aim to trace the money trail of the funds transferred by Hirjikaka to the specified bank account, in hopes of recovering the remaining amount.

Hirjikaka reported to the police that she was contacted by a woman who identified herself as Ms. Bhardwaj and claimed that her husband had deposited Rs 4 lakh in her Provident Fund account in 2004, which had allegedly grown to Rs 11 crore.

Hirjikaka parted with Rs 4.35 crore after being enticed with the promise of the Rs 11 crore return.

Initially, the woman persuaded Hirjikaka with the promise of Rs 11 crore but then the accused took money from her by threatening to close her bank account, an official said.