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Bengaluru: Techie duped of Rs 59 lakh on online dating site

The victim Srinath (name changed) finally approached the Cyber Crime Police and lodged a complaint against Arpita, Rupali's pseudonym.

Bengaluru: Cyber Crime Police arrested a Kolkata-based couple, including a small time Bengali scriptwriter, for duping a city-based techie of over Rs 50 lakh via a dating website.

The techie befriended the accused, Rupali Majumdar (39), who posed as a teacher on www.mingle2.—com. He transferred Rs 59.72 lakh in successive transactions over a six months period before realising he was being duped in the name of love.

The victim Srinath (name changed) finally approached the Cyber Crime Police and lodged a complaint against Arpita, Rupali’s pseudonym.

Srinath said he got a friend request on the dating site from a user profile “Shompa76”, handled by Rupali under the name, Arpita, with a fake profile picture. The duo r shared their WhatsApp numbers and chatted frequently.

A few days later, the accused made a video call to the victim in which she appeared dull. This worried Srinath and he enquired. She said that her father was being treated at a private hospital and she was unable to pay the bills. A gullible Srinath offered to help.

The accused first declined the offer, but then requested Rs 30,000, which Srinath transferred online to her bank account.

The accused later emotionally blackmailed the complainant into transferring more money, claiming her father’s condition was deteriorating. The complainant believed her and kept transferring money periodically. A team was formed and sent to Kolkata where police collected CCTV footage from the bank and her account details.

Upon verification, police found the account was operated by a woman and went to her residence. There they discovered her true identiy. Her husband Kushan Majumdar (48), is a Bengali serial actor and scriptwriter.

They were arrested and brought to Bengaluru for investigation. Rupali, a housewife, wanted a life of luxury. She and her husband created fake profiles on dating websites to cheat users. She downloaded pictures of sundry models from Google and posted them as her display picture. She used to pose as a teacher or doctor working in Kolkata.

Three held for sexual assault

Police have arrested three people in connection with a sexual assault case which occurred in Sullia taluk.

A press statement by the police said that the victim was on her way back home after supplying milk to a dairy on Monday evening around 3.45 pm when the incident happened.Three unknown people who arrived in an autorickshaw, waylaid the woman, forced her inside the rickshaw and took her to a rubber plantation near Chokkadi. They sexually assaulted the woman and warned her not to reveal the incident to anyone. After assaulting her, the trio took her in the rickshaw and dropped her back before escaping from the spot.

The police took immediate action and searched for the accused. They were found near Chokkadi and were arrested. The three arrested are Jayaprakash (25) of Amara Mudnur village, Ranjith (20) of Amara Padnur village and Ravindra of Amara Mudnur village.

( Source : Deccan Chronicle. )
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