CB arrests Nigerian national for duping woman of Rs 28.67L

BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch (CB) arrested a 35-year-old Nigerian national, Patrick Chizorom Orajaka, from New Delhi for allegedly duping a woman from Cuttack of Rs 28.67 lakh. According to CB officers, Orajaka contacted a woman from Cuttack on Instagram by impersonating as a gynecologist from Netherlands. The 34-year-old victim followed back the accused on the social networking site and they started chatting on the messenger.

The duo even exchanged their mobile phone numbers and started chatting on WhatsApp. The accused developed a friendship with the victim and told her that he will visit India to meet her. She later received a call over the telephone and the caller introduced herself as a Customs officer from New Delhi airport and informed that one of her relatives who reached India to meet her was carrying 90,000 euros with him which was against the rules for which he was detained. 

In an attempt to get the fraudster released, the victim deposited money in a phase wise manner in different accounts. However, when the demands of the cyber fraudsters kept increasing every passing day, the victim realised that she was duped.

She lodged a complaint in CID-CB's cyber crime police station in Cuttack and a case was registered on November 16 under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 120B, 34 of the IPC and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Sources said the victim is an IT professional and she started chatting with the accused six days before lodging a complaint against him. She deposited the money in 12 different accounts in five consecutive days. During investigation, the cyber crime police station officers ascertained that most of the bank accounts in which the victim transferred the money belonged to the holders in North East region and the accused was operating them from different places in New Delhi. 

A CID-CB team led by inspector Anila Anand arrested Orajaka from Dwarka area in the national capital on Tuesday. The accused was staying in an apartment in New Delhi's Bengali Colony and was using bank accounts of different people by alluring them to pay them cash for the purpose. 

The officers seized Aadhaar and Pan Cards issued in the name of Orajaka, 16 debit cards, 12 mobile phones, 20 SIM cards registered to carry out unified payments interface (UPI)/immediate payment service (IMPS) transactions, 22 bank passbooks, 10 cheque books, one laptop and a Nigerian passport from him.
"Orajaka was produced in a court in Dwarka on Tuesday and brought to Odisha on transit remand. Investigation is on to ascertain whether other cyber criminals are involved with him," said a CB officer.