Mumbai: Man, son held in friendship club case

A father-son duo has been arrested by the Cyber Crime Police of the city crime branch in the friendship club fraud case.

Investigations revealed that Babu Latif Shaikh and his son Ejaz had provided mobile numbers to the operators of the club and were also handling monetary operations of the club. With these arrests, the total number of arrests in the case has gone up to six.

Explaining the modus-operandi, the police said the gang published an advertisement in newspapers on the name of Aaliya Friendship Club. On payment of Rs10,200 membership fee, the club promised to connect their members to “smart, good-looking and high-profile women”.

“When one of the victims contacted the club in October this year, he was told to deposit money in a bank account. When the club failed to meet their promise, the victim realised that he had been cheated and lodged a police complaint. Investigations revealed that it was a full-fledged racket in the garb of friendship club,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity.

On Saturday, the police had arrested four members of this club identified as Najma Babu Shaikh alias Nazia alias Aaliya alias Priya alias Pooja Mishra, 23, resident of Charkop, Faiyaz Babu Shaikh, 45, resident of Malwani, Sanjay Chabaria, 32, resident of Ulhasnagar and Abrar Usman Shaikh, 27, resident of Kalyan. Also it seems that Najma was the girl who had spoken to the victim,” the officer said.  The police had seized three mobile phones and two debit cards from the gang members.