Criminals often devise various ways to target innocent people, but this 'voice modulation' trick allegedly employed and mastered by a 40-year-old Nigerian man has left even the Mumbai police shocked.
In a unique modus operandi, the accused Stephen Nobujhal would make calls in a female voice when his target is a man and vice versa, an official said on Monday.
Nobujhal's cover was blown when police arrested him from Aarey Colony on September 5 after laying a trap.
Police had received a complaint from one Kiran Salvi claiming that a woman caller was harassing him by making calls on his mobile phone and asking him to invest in some online business, the official said.
After registering an FIR, the police asked Salvi to call the "woman" to a spot in Aarey Colony and a trap was laid.
However, the police were in for surprise when they saw an African man, later identified as Nobujhal, alighting from an autorickshaw, he said.
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"During interrogation, we came to know that Nobujhal would talk to people by changing his voice from male to female and vice versa," the official added.
Senior Aarey police station inspector Nutan Pawar said police recovered 3-4 mobile SIM cards, a laptop and other material from the accused.
"We suspect that Nobujhal had targeted many people in Mumbai as well as Pune by using this modus operandi," she said.
Nobujhal has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for cheating and criminal breach of trust.
A local court has remanded him in police custody till September 11.