Mumbai Crime: Tourist duped of Rs 9.70 lakh; one held

Pic/Mumbai Police

A man was arrested by Mumbai Police for allegedly duping a foreigner for Rs 9.70 lakhs.

According to the Santacruz police, the 24-year-old foreigner Allurach Heberman had come to India as a tourist and had visited Jaipur where he met three of the alleged accused. The trio convinced the foreigner to buy a bracelet with valuable stone worth Rs 2,000 in it.

According to the police, the trio had allegedly forced the victim to consume alcohol and drugs in Jaipur. While, the trio later travelled to Delhi along with the victim, only one of the accused accompanied the victim to Mumbai. The alleged accused had sent a parcel to the victim's residence in Germany, but they did not stop duping money from the victim.

One of the alleged accused convinced Heberman to buy 100 grams of gold biscuits from a renowned shop in Mumbai. Between August 19 to August 24, the trio demanded around Rs 15 lakhs from the victim and forced him to place an order for four gold biscuits. While two gold biscuits worth rupees three lakhs were purchased and handed over to the alleged accused, before the accused could receive the other two biscuits, he was arrested by the police.

Realising he had been defrauded, Heberman approached the police on August 28. Subsequently, a raid on a Santacruz-based hotel led to the arrest of one of the accused, identified as Zakir Husian.

Zakir was granted three days of police custody but is now under judicial custody. The police have recovered assets worth Rs 9,70,000 from Husian, while the search continues for the remaining two suspects.

The trio faces charges under sections 406 (Criminal breach of trust) and 420 (Cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.