MUMBAI: The Matunga Police have registered a fresh case of cheating against a group of persons for cheating an engineering student of Rs 1.50 lakh on the pretext of providing him with a ‘call boy’ job.
Earlier on January 14, the Matunga police arrested New Delhi resident Rohitkumar Gowardhan (30) for allegedly cheating the 23-year-old son of a policeman of Rs 1.53 lakh by offering him a 'call boy' job. Gowardhan is currently in police custody.
The second case of a similar modus operandi was registered last week. The complainant, who is studying in the second year of engineering, had seen an advertisement on Facebook for the job of a call boy. “He called up the contact number mentioned in the advertisement. The phone receiver, a woman, briefed him about his job profile and said that he will be given Rs 25,000 per assignment. Later, the woman gave him the number of a client asking him to contact her,” said a police officer. The complainant, like the first cheating case, was given an identity card of the company too through WhatsApp.
The complainant contacted the number given to him. A woman responded and said she will book the hotel room and make all the arrangements herself. “The woman asked the complainant to deposit money in an account saying it will be refunded along with his fees when they meet in person,” said police. Even after transferring money, there was no response. He was later given a number of two more women. He contacted the other two numbers and the women repeated similar demands. “By this way, the complainant ended up paying Rs 1.50 lakh. Later, he realised, he was cheated and approached the police,” added an investigator. This seems to be a different gang, said police.
Meanwhile, police have recovered Rs 1.53 lakh that Gowardhan had taken from a policeman’s son by offering him a call boy’s job. Gowardhan was arrested by a police team led by PSI Rajabhau Garad. Investigators said that though the modus operandi in the two cases are similar, it looks like the handiwork of two different gangs. Cops are now collecting information about the three bank accounts where money was transferred, the SIM cards used in the crime and the Facebook account.
