Elderly woman falls for conman's 'love', loses Rs 94 lakh

September 8, 2016

Pune, Sep 8: If you think something is too good to be true, chances are that it probably is. A 64-year-old widow from the city learnt this lesson the hard way recently.

lovemoneyThe Chatushrungi police have booked a person named Harley Benson, who claimed to be from London, for allegedly duping the elderly woman of Rs 94.5 lakh after promising to marry her. The woman lodged a police complaint on Tuesday.

The suspect had befriended the woman, a resident of Model Colony, off Fergusson College Road on Facebook. Benson and she exchanged cellphone numbers and began sending SMSs and Whatsapp messages to each other in May 2016.

According to police, he professed his love for her a couple of months ago and promised to marry her. Benson won her confidence by claiming that he was willing to relocate to India.

As the woman's daughter is based in the US and her husband died in 2014, she lives alone in the city, police inspector U B Shingade said.

The woman was earlier employed as a teacher in a prominent research institute of the Union government and has now retired. police said.

On July 27 this year, Benson called her up and told her that he was shifting to Pune and was carrying gold and diamonds worth 95,000.

After a couple of days, he called her up again claiming that Indian customs officials had caught him at the Delhi airport and were demanding a fine for the gold and diamonds.

Benson claimed that he was not carrying a large amount of money and requested her to pay the fine.

The complaint said that Benson provided her a few bank account numbers and requested her to deposit money in them. The woman deposited Rs 94.5 lakh in the account numbers provided by him over some period. After receiving the money, he switched off his cellphone number.

Police said that the woman sold a piece of land to pay the money. Police have obtained details of the bank accounts and have launched a manhunt to trace the suspect.

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January 21,2020

Tengnoupal, Jan 21: A woman IPS officer has alleged that a rifleman of Assam Rifles physically assaulted and molested her at a check post near Moreh town in Manipur's Tengnoupal district, police said on Tuesday.

Based on a written complaint of the IPS officer, an FIR has been registered against rifleman P K Pandey and a summon has been issued to him to appear before the concerned police station, the police said.

Manipur DGP L M Khaute told reporters on Monday, "We have made contacts with the Assam Rifles authorities. A complaint has been lodged by the officer." In her complaint, the IPS officer said that on reaching Khudengtabi check post on Sunday afternoon one of her escorts, who was not in uniform, told the frisking party of Assam Rifles to register their entry.

Despite showing their identity cards, the rifleman allegedly detained them, she said.

"We offered to search ourselves and the vehicle, but he was not interested", she said.

The rifleman began hitting the official vehicle and "misbehaved, humiliated, harassed and assaulted me and my escort personnel," she alleged.

The IPS officer also alleged that the rifleman molested her and when her escorts tried to intervene, he thrashed them.

She further accused the rifleman of making "sexually coloured" remarks against her, using abusive language and even tried to snatch her phone when she tried to call her senior officers.

The issue was brought under control after the matter was reported to the Brigadier of 26th Assam Rifles and the Major of the D-company of 12th AR, police said.

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May 19,2020

Yavatmal, May 19: Four migrant workers were killed and 15 others were injured after a bus they were travelling in crashed into a truck in Yavatmal on Tuesday morning.

The bus was travelling from Solapur to Jharkhand. More details are currently awaited.

This comes amid nationwide COVID-19 lockdown has been extended to May 31, albeit with some relaxations.

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May 24,2020

Kanpur, May 24: Three persons onboard separate Shramik Special trains lost their lives due to various ailment, officials said here on Saturday.

"Family members of the deceased said all were suffering from serious ailment. The travel history of all the three deceased passengers was taken, Kanpur District Magistrate Brahma Deo Ram Tiwari said.

Giving details about the deceased, he said Naichinalyu Disang (23), a resident of Nagaland, was going from Delhi to Dimapur.

"She was suffering from liver ailments," Tiwari said. As she coughed and vomited in the train, other passengers got terrified, he added.

The district magistrate said the body reached Kanpur Central Station at around 10.00 am.

Sample has been taken to check for the presence of novel coronavirus. She was working at a spa in Himachal Pradesh, he said.

Tiwari said Rajendra Prasad (50), a resident of Unnao, died on the Lucknow-bound special train from Andhra Pradesh.

Munni Devi (80), a resident of Siwan district in Bihar, died onboard the special train going from Surat to Siwan, the senior official informed.

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