Man arrested for posing as NRI & cheating divorced women of lakhs on false promises

new delhi: A man was arrested here for allegedly posing as an NRI and cheating divorced women of lakhs of rupees on false promises of marrying them and arranging visas, police said on Thursday.

Accused Purshotam Sharma of Punjab and his accomplice, Kuldeep Singh of Delhi's Rohini, have cheated more than 50 women so far,

they said.

The matter came to light in September after a woman from Paschim Vihar approached the IGI Airport police station against the accused, the police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Sanjay Kumar Tyagi said the team investigating the case traced Sharma in Amritsar and arrested him on December 21.

A mobile phone recovered from him contained screenshots and details of the complainant's passport, he said.

"During interrogation, Sharma revealed that he used to look up divorced women on matrimonial sites and initiate a conversation posing as an NRI. He used to feign interest in getting marred," the officer said.

"Having gained their confidence after a while, he would collect their passports and other details on the pretext of obtaining a visa. Thereafter, he used to tell them the process had run into a problem and asked them for money to get it fixed. Soon after someone sent him the money, he started avoiding them," Tyagi added.

He disclosed the name of his associate, and based on that, the police arrested Singh from Rohini on December 26.

During interrogation, Singh revealed that he got a fake Canada visa affixed on the passport of the complainant through an accomplice, the officer said.

It also came to light that Sharma had already been married thrice, and three FIRs were registered against him, he said.

After the arrest, several other victims came forward and lodged complaints against the accused, the police said, adding that an investigation is underway.