Self-styled 'healer', aide dupe Thane businessman of Rs 56 lakh

A man claiming to be a healer and his associate have allegedly cheated a businessman from Thane in Maharashtra of Rs 562 lakh under the pretext of providing him a herbal treatment for his ailments police said on Sunday reported PTIThe two accused had been supplying medicines to the 75yearold victim through courier from November last year But the victim did not experience any improvement in his health after consuming the medicines reported PTIThe accused later called the victim to Gaimukh Chowpatty on Ghodbunder Road in the city and allegedly forced him to consume a medicine mixed with various herbal substances an official from Kasarvadavali police station said reported PTIThe accused then claimed that the cost of the treatment was Rs 56 lakh and allegedly threatened the victim with dire consequences if he failed to pay They also warned him that people would be sent to his residence to recover the money and photographs taken during his illness would be circulated online to defame him the official saidOut of fear the victim paid Rs 20000 in cash and later transferred various amounts in instalments totalling Rs 562 lakh but the accused continued demanding more money reported PTIBased on a complaint lodged by the victim the police registered a case against the accused under sections 3082 extortion 3182 3183 cheating 277 sale or distribution of adulterated drugs or medical preparations and 35 common intention of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita the official saidTwo held from Jharkhand for defrauding man by creating fake profile of Palghar collectorIn another in case two individuals have been apprehended from Dhanbad in Jharkhand for allegedly creating a fake social media account in the name of the Palghar district collector and duping a local resident of Rs 50000 a senior officer said reported PTIThe cyber wing of the police also managed to recover the entire defrauded amount from the accusedPalghar Superintendent of Police Yatish Deshmukh on Friday said the accused allegedly contacted the complainant a resident of Vagulsar in Palghar west on May 17 on WhatsApp and requested a transfer of Rs 50000 to a bank account reported PTIThe unknown fraudster had set his WhatsApp profile photo to that of the District Collector and falsely projected an identity of District Collector Indu Rani Jakhar By gaining the trust of the complainant the fraudster sent a message requesting him to urgently transfer Rs 50000 to a bank account number provided in the chat said DeshmukhThe unsuspecting complainant transferred the money However he realised that he had been cheated by an impersonator who used the District Collectors photographBased on a complaint lodged by him a case was registered at the Cyber Police Station under sections 3184Cheating and 3192 cheating by personation of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita BNS along with sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act the SP saidThe technical investigation successfully traced the digital footprints to Jharkhand A police team subsequently conducted a raid in Dhanbad district and arrested two accused individuals Deshmukh addedThe accused duo is identified as Balwant Kumar Kamal Prasad Mandal 26 and Rajukumar Dukhan Ravani 22 police said reported PTIThe entire stolen amount of Rs 50000 has been successfully seized from them Further investigation into the network of these cyber criminals is underwayWith inputs from PTI