Mumbai:
The Juhu police have arrested a 40-year-old Bengaluru-based businessman who allegedly duped his fiancee to the tune of Rs two lakh last year.
MiD DAY had reported about the accused Vicky Nambiar alias Byju VC ('Serial con artist dupes fiancee of Rs 2 lakh', December 15, 2011), and how he would get in touch with wealthy spinsters through matrimony sites, pretend to be a rich businessman, propose marriage to them, and after winning their trust, dupe them of money.
Byju has been arrested from Bengaluru and is suspected to have cheated more than 100 women using the same confidence trick.
The findings came to the fore in April last year, when one of his victims, Mayuri (name changed, 38) complained to the Juhu police that she had been duped by her fiance to the tune of Rs 2 lakh.
She told the police that she had met Byju through a matrimony site on April 3.
Byju had reportedly told Mayuri that he was a garment businessman from Bengaluru.
A few days after the two decided to get married, Byju told her he was going through a financial problem and needed Rs 2 lakh for a business deal.
She gave him the money that she had saved for their marriage. However, in a few days Byju phoned Mayuri again, this time to tell her that he was admitted to a Pune hospital and needed more money.
"I suspected foul play as Byju did not allow me to visit him at the hospital. I told him that I would not transfer the money but instead pay the bills myself," said Mayuri.
Since then, Byju stopped contacting Mayuri. He even stopped answering her calls.
Copspeak
"We had found that Byju used to target women between the ages of 28 and 35 years through a matrimony site and lure them by proposing to them. He used to brag that he was rich, and travelled in posh cars. Within days of the engagement, he'd tell his victims he was in need of cash and dump them after extracting money from them," said an officer from Juhu police station.
According to the police, they had been tracing the phone number Byju used to get in touch with Mayuri, but since he did not remain in one place for long, they were unable to arrest him.
"We traced his location, and arrested him on Monday. He was brought to Mumbai on Tuesday," said the officer.
"We have learnt that another woman has registered a complaint against Byju in Mulund and we suspect that there are more than 100 women who have been duped by the accused," said Arun Bhagat, senior police inspector of Juhu police station.