Rajnandgaon. If those who rely on online portals for marriage instead of relatives have not been able to learn a lesson from the suicide of AI engineer Atul Subhash in Bengaluru, then this latest case from Chhattisgarh can be an example for them, in which a Nigerian created a fake ID on Shaadi.com and cheated a Rajnandgaon resident woman of Rs 15,72,000 online. Thanks to the Rajnandgaon police who showed seriousness in the investigation and arrested the accused from Delhi and saved other women from being cheated
According to the information received from the police, the woman had lodged a report in Dongargaon police station that the unknown accused had claimed to be working in the United Kingdom on shadi.com by the name of Alok Deshpande and had promised to return to India soon and marry the applicant. Meanwhile, on July 11, 2024, the woman received a call from an unknown woman, who told her that Alok Deshpande has come to India at Delhi airport with foreign currency and a fee will have to be deposited as per the procedure to exchange that currency into Indian currency
During the same time, the alleged Alok Deshpande also called the applicant and said that there is an urgent need of money. By continuously emotionally blackmailing her, he made the woman deposit a total of Rs 15,72,000 in several installments in different bank accounts. After this, he switched off all the mobile phones used in the incident. On realizing that she had been duped, the woman lodged a complaint in Dongargaon police station under crime number 189/2024, section 318 (4) BNS.
During the investigation, the cyber cell of Rajnandgaon started the investigation of the profile ID and mobile holder of the said shadi.com, in which the location of the mobile holder was found to be Delhi, Tilak Nagar. After this, on the instructions of Rajnandgaon Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg, a joint team of Dongargaon police station and cyber cell was formed and a raid was conducted at the accused’s hideout at Chaukhandi Santnagar Extension under Tilaknagar police station area of Delhi, in which the accused, Johnson Samuel of Nigerian origin, was taken into custody and questioned.
The accused told that he used to commit fraud in collaboration with an Indian female accomplice living in Delhi, who used to provide several fake bank accounts and SIM cards to the accused for fraud, for which she used to take 50 percent commission. Along with this, when the money of fraud came into the accounts, she used to withdraw it from ATM and provide it. On this, Section 3(5) of the Indian Penal Code and 66D IT Act were added in the case and Johnson Samuel was duly arrested on 11 December 2024.
The accused Johnson Samuel came to India on a tourist visa in September 2018 and was staying in Delhi unauthorisedly despite his visa expiring in 2022. In this regard, a complaint was lodged with the embassy office of the accused’s native country, the Republic of Ghana.
The accused Johnson Samuel was currently cheating many innocent Indian women by creating fake profiles under various Indian names through shadi.com and was still active. Rajnandgaon police succeeded in preventing future cyber frauds against other Indian women by catching him red-handed with various electronic devices and other evidence used in the crime.
