Gujarat: 23-year-old conman influenced by 'Catch Me If You Can' movie held

The Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on Monday said it has arrested a 23-year-old man, allegedly involved in over 20 cases of cheque frauds in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Jaipur while working as "accountant or auditor" by faking identities in each case. Police said that the alleged conman and his father, said to be partner-in-crime, were inspired from a crime film "Catch Me If You Can" based on the life of an imposter in the United States.

DCB officials said that the suspect Jayesh Soni, 23, was arrested while he was out to give an interview for a new "job" at a firm situated in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. They said that Soni was under surveillance for many days by a team of policemen who were working to detect at least four similar cases registered at different police stations in the city and that had the same modus operandi. He is originally from Sabarkantha district but has been living in Ahmedabad and Udaipur.

Police said that in one of the cases in the city, the suspect had cheated a firm -Kothari Papers-by stealing the company's cheque book and withdrew Rs14.78 lakh. Police said that in all five cases registered in Ahmedabad, the photo of the suspect was the same while his names, bank accounts, mobile numbers, among other details were different. Later, those details were found to be forged as the police could not find anyone on those addresses and other details.

The investigating team started trailing the looted money and based on human intelligence, tracked Soni to Udaipur in Rajasthan and put a watch on his house. They said that the police team watched Soni's movement for many days to verify he was the same person they were looking for. They said after verifying details, they trailed Soni to Ahmedabad who came to appear in an interview for a job at a firm located at an industrial area in Changodar in the city outskirts where he was finally arrested.

In the police custody, Soni is said to have told the cops that he defrauded at least 20 firms where he worked either as an accountant or as auditor. A police officer told DH, "We are verifying many details that he has told us like he is a school dropout and learnt accounting and other computer related work on Youtube with the help of his father who is also alleged to be his partner-in-crime. He learnt how to duplicate PAN card, Aadhaar card and other documents which he would use in crime later on."

"He has told us that he and his father were influenced by the movie "Catch Me If You Can," which they watched in 2015 and started conning people from 2016 . He speaks fluent English, Hindi and Gujarati which used to impress his employers," said Assistant Commissioner of Police, VB Gohil, DCB. He added that "We are trying to ascertain the amount of money he has cheated so far but his victims are in Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Jaipur. Police have so far identified 15 cases in these three cities. Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that Soni's father Ramesh Kumar had been arrested in two cases for stealing cars and selling them on the basis of duplicate registration certificates or RC books in Ahmedabad in 2003-04.

Police said that Soni used to steal cheques from the company's chequebook. He would use these stamps on cheques which were to be deposited in the banks or filling RTGS forms with the signature of the firm's owner. Later, he would leave the job on some or the other pretext, destroy the SIM card and the phone to avoid getting tracked. After leaving the job, the father-son duo would deposit the cheques in their bank accounts in other cities where cheques used to get clear without any suspicion.