20 July,2016 06:30 PM IST | | Shiva Devnath
A conman who had befriended a Dubai-based divorced woman on a social networking site and promised to marry her was on Monday arrest by the Mumbai police on charges of rape and cheating
Conman Sameer Mehra's luck with cheating rich, divorced women seems to have finally run out. He was arrested on Monday by the Mumbai police for allegedly raping and cheating a Dubai-based woman, whom he had falsely promised to marry. He duped her for Rs 80 lakh.
Also Read: Mumbai: Conman promises marriage, cheats woman of Rs 80 lakh over 6 years
Sameer Mehra was caught in Malad
The 35-year-old was wanted since March in the alleged rape and cheating case. A Dubai-based woman had lodged a complaint with the MIDC police on March 18 against Mehra for cheating and raping her on pretext of marriage.
"We have been searching for him for long and have caught hold of him at last. He has been charged with cheating and rape charge and is now in police custody," said Sailesh Pasalwar, senior police inspector of MIDC police station.
Caught in Malad
The woman lodged the complaint in March. The MIDC police visited his house soon after, only to know that Mehra had fled from the city with his family. Finally, on Monday evening, cops caught hold of Mehra in Malad, while he was on his way to meet his advocate. He has been remanded in the police custody till July 22.
Learning about his arrest, she said, "I am happy that he has been arrested. At least he won't cheat other women. I heard that he is planning to marry a woman in Punjab and feels that she should know the truth about him. He is a fraudster and needs to be punished. I had left everything for him and helped with all my earnings."
"He has been trying to marry woman in Mumbai and even in Punjab. Earlier, one wedding was cancelled in Mumbai and now he is about to marry the other. I feel sad for the woman," she added.
Tricking divorcees
mid-day had reported on April 7 on Mehra's modus operandi of cheating the woman. He had befriended the woman on a social networking website. Mehra was aware that the woman was divorced and told her that he was a divorcee as well. Soon, he began flirting with her. A couple of days later, he asked her to marry him and come to Mumbai. The woman fell for it and came to India. She met Mehra and his family in Andheri.
The couple were together for six years, from 2010 to 2015. The woman told the police that Mehra had asked her to move to India and assist him in his automobile business and asked her to shell out some money since he had suffered losses in his business. He also demanded R2 lakh to pay the advocate in his divorce case. He then began routinely taking huge amounts of cash from her under various pretexts. The woman mentioned in her complaint that she lent him Rs 80 lakh in total.
However, while he was happy to take the money from her, he was in no mood to marry her. The woman would remind of the promise he had made, but Mehra would always brush it off.
"In January this year, I got a message on my social networking website page from a woman in South Africa. She told me that Mehra had cheated her and looted Rs 7 lakh from her by luring her into marriage. The woman also said she was divorced and had met Mehra through the same website. This was when I knew for sure that he is a fraud. He started ignoring my phone calls and refused to marry me, saying his parents were refusing the relationship," the Dubai-based woman told mid-day.
