Ahmedabad
The accused have been identified as Vikas Maheswari (31), Dharmesh Jain (31) and Nawab Khan (24) from Rajasthan, Suresh Kumar (32) from Ahmedabad and Azharuddin Kabir (27) from Mumbai.
Updated : Mar 19, 2019, 07:00 AM IST
On Monday, the cyber cell arrested seven accused including two Nigerian nationals identified as Pios Obi (44) and Perez Uchendu (26) all residents of Mumbai, for duping a city-based pharma trader of Rs 65 lakh.
The gang got the victim to pay for raw material, by saying that it will be used in cancer medicine research project abroad, and it is a good investment if he buys the raw material from India and trades the material to them. Once the victim pays the material cost, the gang never supplied the material.
The accused have been identified as Vikas Maheswari (31), Dharmesh Jain (31) and Nawab Khan (24) from Rajasthan, Suresh Kumar (32) from Ahmedabad and Azharuddin Kabir (27) from Mumbai. As per senior officials, a complaint was lodged by victim Suresh Vora, 49, a resident of Makarba. He was contacted by a person through Facebook with an id name Alex Cari. He identified himself as a researcher working in a medical research project and he was into buying raw material for his research.
Rajdeep Zala, DCP of cyber cell said, "Vora was promised to get a huge return for his investment and he agreed to supply the material." He added, "During the meeting, Vora was sold samples of raw material for Rs 7 lakh, which was later checked and cleared by Pios Obi, who posed as officials from the research company. Later Vora paid Rs 65 lakh for more supply of the material and the money was deposited in different bank account located in Rajasthan." further said Zala.
After the payment was done, Vora didnt get any response from the accused. This was when he realised he was duped. It was also revealed that the money was deposited into seven accounts. "Azharuddin handed over the money to Perez (Nigerian), who took 90 per cent of the cash, while 10 per cent was distributed among other accused," said official.
As per officials, during interrogation, it was revealed a Nigerian national named Smith is behind the racket, and search for him is on. One more person from Ahmedabad is also said to be involved in the case.