Police arrested a Nigerian national and his Indian wife from Noida for allegedly cheating a city based stock broker to the tune of Rs 13.76 lakh under the pretext of a business opportunity, police said today.
Nnabgu Benson Orayzuka (39) and Neharika Deep Orayzuka (37) were arrested from Noida today by a team of Mumbai police, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-VII), Sachin Patil said.
They are remanded to police custody till April 24, DCP Patil said.
"The duo cheated Sandeep Singh of Rs 13.76 lakhs by offering him a business opportunity for supply of herbal seeds," the official said.
He said that the complainant came in contact with Neharika through a social media website.
She was using the name as Mersi John on the social media site, said police.
Both exchanged their cell numbers and started chatting through messaging app, he said.
During the conversations, Mersi told Singh that she was working with a UK based pharmaceutical company, which is deals in herbal seeds and offered business opportunity to him, police said.
Singh also met one of the company director near UK Consulate at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Western suburbs as part of the talks to do business, said police.
The deal was sealed with an initial order of 50 packets, the official said.
Singh placed an order of 50 packets to the Indian supplier, as was suggested by Mersi, Patil said.
He deposited an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh through RTGS in a bank account of the supplier initially and then went on to deposit Rs 6.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh more as part of the business deal, added the official.
After depositing Rs 12.5 lakh, when Singh tried to contact Mersi and the Indian supplier he found that their cell phones were switched off, the official said.
Meanwhile Singh got a call from the company executive, who informed him that they were returning the deposited money due to non-delivery of seeds, he said.
However, the company executive went on to add that the money was converted into dollars and to get this consignment through courier he will have to pay Rs 1.26 lakh, police said.
Singh deposited Rs 1.26 lakh in the given account, but, failed to get any refund of his money, said police.
It was then that he understood that he was being fooled since last few months, said the official.
He then approached Bhandup Police Station and lodged the complaint against Mersi John, her company director Valentine and unidentified Indian supplier, police said.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the accused were staying at Noida, Shripad Kale, Senior Police Inspector of Bhandup Police Station said.
Police team went to Noida and arrested Nnagbu Benson Orayzuka and his wife Neharika Deep Orayzuka, he said.
"We got Orayzuka's image, which was captured in the CCTV at UK Consulate in BKC," he added.
Police have seized a laptop, 14 mobile phones, SIM cards of various countries, internet dongle, memory card, pen drive, ATM cards, passbooks and chequebooks from their possession, he added.
"We suspect that the duo must have cheated some more persons under the pretext of business opportunity in herbal seeds supply," the official said.
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