Nigerian national held for duping over 300 women on pretext of marriage

NOIDA: Nigerian national staying in Delhi has been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police on the charge of cheating at least 300 women and duping them of crores of rupees on the pretext of marriage, officials said on Friday.

According to police, the accused has been identified as Garuba Galumje (36), a native of Lagos in Nigeria. He was arrested from South Delhi's Kishan Garh area where he was staying in a rented house.

Police had received complaint from a Meerut based woman who was duped by the accused. In her compliant, the woman has claimed that she had registered herself on Jeevansathi for marriage and a man approached her through the website and introduced himself as Indo-Canadian NRI Sanjay Singh.

The complainant said that the man eventually gained her trust and tricked her into transferring Rs 60 lakh in multiple instalments into his various bank accounts. Police said that during investigation, several other cases related to the accused were also highlighted.

"There are over 300 women whom the accused duped over a long period through social media and matrimonial sites. The total fraud amount may be in crores. He also used photos of other Indian men and not his own," Inspector Reeta Yadav, in-charge Cyber Crime police station, Noida, said.

Police have booked the accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 419 (cheating by impersonation) and under provisions of the Information Technology Act.