66 year old's Facebook 'girlfriend' cheats him of Rs 35 lakh
GURUGRAM: Love is blind. It can be an expensive affair too. This realisation dawned on a 66-year-old former banker late, only after he lost Rs 35 lakh to a ‘Facebook friend’ who claimed she was travelling from London to India only to meet him.
The retired bank official, who lives in the DLF 1 area, not only gave away Rs 13 lakh of his savings but also took a loan of Rs 22 lakh from private lenders to help out his newly found girlfriend, who claimed she had been detained at Mumbai airport by immigrations officials for lack of documents.
It all started on May 19 when the man, still a bachelor, received a friend request from a woman, who introduced herself as Jenny Anderson, on Facebook. He accepted it.
During casual chats on Facebook, the woman asked for his WhatsApp number. Soon they started chatting on WhatsApp.
“Jenny claimed she was single and lived with her mother in London, where she also owned a jewellery shop. Further, she said she travelled to different countries, including India, often to procure gold,” the man alleged.
On May 26, the woman told him that she was planning to celebrate the 11th anniversary of her shop and she wanted to invite him for the same. She also asked for his home address, saying she wanted to send him some gifts. He shared his address but expressed his inability to travel to London as he was alone.
A few days later, on May 29, Jenny informed him on WhatsApp that she was coming to India. “Jenny said she would board the flight on June 1. She further said she would land in Mumbai and then take a connecting flight to Delhi, where she was supposed stay for a week before leaving for Dubai,” he told police.
Jenny further said the main reason behind her visit to India was to meet him, apart from procuring gold ornaments for her showroom. “Can I stay at your house? She asked me on WhatsApp and shared her photo boarding the flight,” he claimed.
On June 1, he received a call from a woman, who claimed she was Pooja from the immigrations department at Mumbai airport. Pooja said Jenny Anderson from the UK had landed in Mumbai but she was not allowed to take the flight to Delhi as she had failed to comply with two mandatory requirements. First, Jenny was carrying foreign currency (British pound) worth Rs 68 lakh without any valid documents (to indicate the source of the money) and second, she was not carrying a health certificate, the caller told the retired banker.
Pooja then handed the phone to Jenny, who started crying and requested him to pay the fine as she had no other contact in India. Jenny asked him to take loan and promised to return the money. He said Pooja, and later another man claimed to be Kumar Sen from the Delhi airport authority, kept calling him over the next few days. The duo threatened to file a case against him for Jenny’s offence.
The old man eventually made over 20 transaction and deposited Rs 35 lakh to different bank account numbers provided by Jenny between June 1 and June 15. But Jenny never came to visit him.
Finally, after all his attempts to reach out to her on Facebook, WhatsApp and phone failed, he filed a complaint at DLF 1 police station earlier this week.
“We have received a complaint in this regard and are probing the case with help from the cyber crime cell,” said a senior officer at DLF 1 police station.
courtesy : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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Centre moves SC for withdrawing CRPF security to Unnao rape survivor, SC seeks her reply
New Delhi, Sep 24: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from the 2017 Unnao rape survivor and her family members on the Centre's plea seeking withdrawal of CRPF security cover provided to them following the court's order in 2019. Expelled BJP leader Kuldeep Singh Sengar is serving a life term for kidnapping and raping the minor girl in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao area in 2017.
Taking note of the sensational rape case and the threat to lives of the survivor and others, the apex court on August 1, 2019, directed that the rape survivor, her mother, other members of the family and their lawyer be provided CRPF security.
A bench of Justices Bela M Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma asked that the application of the Centre to be served on the victim and her family members. The bench also observed that since there is hardly any threat perception, it would like to close the case.
The Centre's counsel said no security cover is needed according to the threat analysis of the victim and her family members.
Advocate Ruchira Goel, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, submitted that everything, including the trial, was transferred to Delhi after the incident following the apex court's order.
The bench asked Goel where the victim resides at present. She replied that the woman and her family stay in Delhi.
On May 14, the top court had asked the Centre to file a separate application seeking withdrawal of CRPF security cover provided to the survivor, her family members and their lawyers.
The Centre submitted that the security cover may be provided by either the Delhi or Uttar Pradesh police and the CRPF be permitted to withdraw.
In 2019, the top court transferred all five cases registered in connection with the Unnao rape incident from a Lucknow court to a court in Delhi with the direction to hold trial on daily basis and complete it within 45 days.
The Supreme Court also directed the Uttar Pradesh government to provide Rs 25 lakh as interim compensation to the rape survivor.
The court had added that the CBI will have to complete within seven days the investigation into the accident in which the survivor and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts killed.
Her father was arrested at the behest of Sengar in a case under the Arms Act and died in custody on April 9, 2018.
Sengar has sought the quashing of the trial court's December 2019 judgment that has sentenced him to imprisonment for the remainder of his life. His appeal is pending in the Delhi High Court.
On March 13, 2020, Sengar was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment in the case of death of the woman's father in custody. He was also slapped with a fine of Rs 10 lakh. The court had awarded a 10-year jail term to Sengar's brother Atul Singh Sengar and five others in the case.
