Retd armyman's daughter held in matrimonial fraud

A 26-year-old daughter of a retired army officer, with help of two Nigerian men, allegedly cheated several men across India. They solemnised marriages with them and then cheated them of lakhs of rupees.

All the three have been arrested after a Haryana-based youth approached Delhi Police a fortnight ago to report of being duped of Rs 21 lakh.

The alleged fraudsters had opened several bank accounts using fake identity cards to receive money from the victims.

Fooling the victims into paying up involved a three-step process with large amounts of money flowing into their accounts with every step.

While the girl would pose as a doctor of Indian origin serving in the United Kingdom’s defence department, her accomplices would assume the roles of Custom Border Protection Officers.

A native of Uttarakhand, Madhulika would first claim over phone and emails that her parents have expired and she had a high-paying job.

Once the victim was convinced into planning a married life with her, she would weave an entire story of visiting Afghanistan on an urgent official mission and seizing huge quantities of gold biscuits.

She would tell the victim that she would be caught if she carried the gold to UK. Once the victim was convinced that all the gold would be theirs to sell and live a comfortable life, he would be directed by her to deposit some money for tax payment and custom clearance.

In the case of the one known victim Sandeep Kumar, a businessman engaged in online trading of silver and other commodities, had paid Rs 1 lakh in the first step.
He had come in contact with Madhulika, going by a fake name of Sonu, on a matrimonial website.

“He was informed by Madhulika that the rates of custom taxes have increased because of which he has to pay an additional Rs 7.20 lakh. He paid this amount too as the woman assured him that the money would be returned to him once she arrived in India,” said a police officer of the Crime Branch who cracked the case.

Very soon, Sandeep received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be a CBPO officer in Delhi. She told him that his illegal activity was detected and he would be jailed and penalised if he did not cough up about Rs 13 lakh as fine money.

Once Sandeep realised that he had been taken for a ride, he approached local police in Haryana who contacted Delhi’s Crime Branch to inform that a gang cheating people through matrimonial websites was active in Delhi and Haryana.

An analysis of the phone numbers from which the victim had received the calls helped police on Wednesday track the accused running their racket from Subroto Park area. Nigerians Mark Eghe Ogunsede, 34, and Imafidon Petro Osamuyiemen, 33, were found to be in India on business visa and were living in Gurgaon.

Madhulika, meanwhile, is the daughter of a retired junior commissioned officer from the Indian Army. A graduate in pathology, she opened a coaching institute in Dehradun before relocating to Delhi and joining hands with the two Nigerians to cheat people, said police.