Hyderabad: Couple which drove sepoy to suicide held

Hyderabad: Online fraud, rising alarmingly in the country, claimed the life of an Indian Army soldier working in the city. Vilas Madhukar Sundarde, a sepoy, took his life after he became the victim at the hands of online cheaters.

The incident came to light after the cyber crime police apprehended the accused couple from New Delhi, who have been running an e-commerce website, on Thursday.

On April 16, this year, Sundarde, a sepoy in the Secunderabad Cantonment, committed suicide by hanging. A case was registered under suspicious death at the Karkhana police station and a probe instituted.

On verification of the deceased sepoy’s WhatsApp and emails, a shocking fact came to light: the sepoy was trapped by online fraudsters and cheated to the tune of Rs 90,000.

Information was communicated to army officials and, subsequently, captain Gadi Raghunadha Reddy, medical officer at a field hospital, lodged a complaint with the Hyderabad cyber crime police.

 The investigation by the cyber crime police revealed that Sundarde purchased some articles through Dealsothon Online Pvt. Ltd, an e-commerce website. The website offered a huge discount on purchasing combo packs with a discount of over 60 per cent.

Sundarde purchased products worth Rs 7,999 for Rs 2,999 through the offer.  But he did not receive the products. Meanwhile, he also received a communication from the company that he would receive a Car (Renault Kwid) and other expensive gifts if he deposits some more money.

 Detective joint commissioner, Avinash Mohanty, said, “The army sepoy was lured in the name of gifts and valuable prizes like a TV, Renault KWID car and transferred Rs 90,000 into the bank account of the portal. He had borrowed money from his friends and paid.”

 As he was not receiving any gifts, he requested and begged the accused to return his money,  but the accused did not care and neither sent the gifts which they assured him nor his money. They also stopped responding to his calls.

“Constrained by the acts of the accused persons, Sundarde sent them messages and committed suicide by hanging,” said Mohanty.

 Following the investigation, accused Lokendra Singh, 29, and his wife, Ruchi Singh, 28, who run the Dealothon website were arrested and produced before the court. The official also said that Lokendra was earlier arrested by the cyber crime police in a similar offence in 2017, and he is currently facing trial in the court.