CHENNAI: A 24-year-old aeronautics graduate was arrested here on Thursday following a complaint from a group of engineering students alleging that he had cheated them to the tune of Rs 3.25 lakh. It all began when the accused, Wasim Irshad, who was studying aeronautical engineering in a college at Thandalam, placed an online advertisement for iPhones, each costing Rs 35,000, in February.
G Vinod, a final-year engineering student of a deemed university in Maduravoyal, who saw the advertisement, contacted Irshad. In the meantime, Vinod’s friends too evinced interest in the deal. “Irshad told Vinod that they needed to pay Rs 3.28 lakh as initial instalment for the Customs clearance,” Crimes Inspector Kasiappan told Express.
Vinod collected money from his friends and handed over the amount to Irshad, a resident of Purasawalkam, on the premises of a private bank near the North Beach Railway Station. Later, when Vinod tried to contact him over phone, the mobile was switched off, police said.
Realising that he and his friends had been duped, the Vinod devised a plan to trap the fraudster by asking his friend Madan to contact Irshad and make enquiries about the iPhone.
The ploy paid off and when Irshad came to the predesignated spot to meet Madan on Wednesday night, Vinod and the others caught him and handed him over to the North Beach police.