Pune: Woman who cheated renowned builder of Rs 4 crore arrested

Sends text messages to firm’s manager on behalf of company president visiting Dubai

Pune: The Cyber Police succeeded in nabbing a woman cyber thug, who sent text messages in the name of the president of a renowned real estate firm to the manager telling them to do RTGS transactions and cheated the company of Rs 4,06,17,316. She was arrested a year after she escaped from police custody when she was being brought to Pune.

The accused has been identified as Sania alias Gudiya Mohammad Mustaqeem Saheb Siddiqui (19), a resident of Gopalganj district, Bihar. She was using different mobile phone numbers and was giving a slip to the police by concealing her identity.

The real estate firm’s Deputy General Manager lodged a complaint at the Cyber Police Station. The incident took place during January 25-February 4, 2024.

The complainant received a text message in the name of the company president on January 25. He also got a WhatsApp message. The president told the manager that it was his private number and told him not to share it with anyone. He said that he was in the meeting and could not call. Then he sent details of a beneficiary account and told the manager to transfer money through RTGS and immediately sent the UTI number. Then he said that he would complete all formalities after getting free.

The complainant presumed that it was the president’s message and sent him a message after transferring the money. The manager sent money to all those people as directed from the unidentified number on January 29, 30 and February 1, 2 and 4. When the president arrived in Pune on February 4, the manager called him up on his usual mobile phone and gave details of the transactions. The company head told him that he never asked him to transfer money from any WhatsApp number. Then the builder realised that he was cheated.

The police nabbed the accused in February 2024 from Faridabad. She escaped from the Kota Railway Station while she was being brought to Pune. Later, she could not be traced.

On technical analysis, her location was traced to Delhi. A Cyber Police team headed by PI Swapnali Shinde, PSI Sandip Kadam, constables Seema Sudit, Neelam Sable, Sandeep Pawar and Sachin Shinde left for Delhi. They searched for the accused in Jamia Nagar with the help of the Delhi Police. Details collected from Delhi and other details gathered from Siwan in Bihar by police constable Ashwin Kumkar confirmed that she was in Gopalganj area. The Cyber Police squad immediately visited Gopalganj.

Police stay by disguising at a farm

The squad located Sania’s residence in Gopalganj but she was not in her house. Therefore, they disguised and stayed at a nearby farm. As she entered her house, they raided it. She tried to escape by jumping from the roof of the house. The squad members had gheraoed her residence and nabbed her.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Commissioner of Police (CP) Amitesh Kumar, Addl CP Shailesh Balkawade, DCP Vivek Masal, ACP Machchindra Khade, Sr PI Suresh Shinde. The police squad comprising PI Swapnali Shinde, PSI Sandip Kadam, police personnel Seem Sudit, Neelam Sable, Mundhe, Konde, Sandeep Pawar, Sachin Shinde, Dinesh Markad, Ashwin Kumkar, Nagtilak and Swagat Palse took action.