Lucknow man loses Rs 1.92 crore to cyber fraudster posing as woman
Lucknow (PTI): For a Lucknow man, a WhatsApp friendship with a 'woman' that began with casual chats and calls ended in a Rs 1.92 crore cyber fraud. Then came the second shock -- the person he had been talking to was a man who posed as a woman to lure him into investing money in fake schemes.
Police here have arrested the accused, identified as Imran Ghazi (34), a resident of Mishripur Depot area under Gudamba police station here, officials said on Tuesday.
Shalabh Pandey lodged a complaint on June 2, 2025, that a woman, who identified herself as Bhavika Shetty, befriended him on WhatsApp and gradually persuaded him to invest money by promising high returns. He transferred Rs 1.92 crore to various bank accounts and later found that it was a cyber fraud, police said.
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An FIR was registered at the Cyber Crime police station here under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 66(D) (cheating by personation using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act.
Following an investigation, a police team arrested Ghazi on Tuesday, the officials said.
During questioning, the accused told police that after his Axis Bank account was frozen, he procured forged Aadhaar and PAN cards and opened multiple bank accounts with the help of an associate, Shehzad, to receive fraud proceeds, they said.
Police said Rs 54 lakh of the cheated amount was routed through Ghazi's accounts, which showed transactions of about Rs 1.52 crore within a month.
Fake identity documents were recovered from the possession of the accused. Further investigation is underway to trace other members of the racket, they said.
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Patna-bound IndiGo flight makes emergency landing at Lucknow due to bad weather
Lucknow (PTI): Adverse weather forced an IndiGo Kolkata-Patna flight to make an emergency landing at Lucknow airport on Friday, airport sources said.
According to airport officials, weather conditions in Patna deteriorated suddenly on Friday afternoon, affecting flight operations.
IndiGo flight 6E 6917 from Kolkata, which was scheduled to land in Patna at 3.50 pm, could not land due to bad weather and kept circling in the air after failing to get clearance from air traffic control, they said.
The flight was later diverted to Lucknow and landed safely at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport at around 5.15 pm. There were 180 passengers and six crew members on board, officials said.
The aircraft was later allowed to depart for Patna after weather conditions improved.
