Pune Police arrested an Indian-origin man based in Australia for duping a woman based in Pune of ₹3.6 crore after promising to marry her on Shaadi.com.
As per the information shared by Pune Cyber Police, the real name of the accused is Abhishek Shukla, who hails from Lucknow but holds an Australian passport. He was arrested at the Mumbai airport on Wednesday.
According to police, Shukla created a dummy registration on the matrimonial site. Using this fake account, he connected with a 40-year-old divorced woman residing in Kharadi, Pune, originally from Delhi. Taking advantage of the friendship, he asked the victim if she was interested in starting a startup or business, offering help with funding.
He convinced her to transfer money to various accounts in India and Singapore. Over a period, the woman transferred ₹3,60,18,540 to different bank accounts.
Suspicion grew after that mail
After a few days, he claimed that he had been diagnosed with oral cancer and reduced contact. Later, one of his alleged associates, who was known to the woman, emailed her saying he had died.
Suspecting foul play, she informed a friend, who alerted her to the possibility of fraud. She then found out that she had been conned and approached the Pune Cyber Police Station in November 2024. The accused was caught on Wednesday as he was arriving in Mumbai from Singapore.
If you were duped by him, reach out to Pune Police
However, what is worrisome is that the technical analysis of the accused's digital activity showed he had messaged at least 3,194 women using the fake identity `Dr. Rohit Oberoi’ through the matrimonial site. The scope of the fraud may be much larger, and further investigations are underway.
Thus, if you are one of these women and have been scammed, Senior Inspector Swapnali Shinde of Pune Cyber Police, who is investigating the case, appealed to women who might have been conned by the accused to contact police through email ID crimecyber.pune@nic.in and phone numbers 7058719371 / 7058719375.
