The Indian police have arrested a 45-year-herold Nigerian man who posed as an American doctor to dupe a woman of ₹2.91 lakh on the pretext of marrying in India. According to the police, the accused, identified as Peter Johnson from Lajpat Nagar in New Delhi, was arrested following the complaint of a woman on Wednesday, June 28, 2023.
The suspect masked and surrounded by Indian police officials The accused had approached the victim through a matrimonial website. Police have recovered 26 mobile phones, 15 sim cards and 27 ATM cards from his possession. The complainant stated that she is a mother of a 12-year-old son and is pursuing a divorce case with her husband. “She had registered herself on a matrimonial website. On January 19, 2023, she received a WhatsApp message where the caller introduced himself as Vipan from Texas in America and claimed to be a doctor following which they started chatting frequently,” police said. The caller eventually convinced her to marry him and sought her passport details which the victim sent him on WhatsApp. The caller assured her that he had got all the legal documents prepared and informed her that he would visit India soon to marry her. “The accused sent her his air ticket and told that he would reach India on February 13, 2023. On the same date, she received a call from one Shikha who claimed to be a police officer from the Delhi Airport Authority. Shikha informed the victim that one Vipan reached India to meet her but had an excess quantity of articles, dollars, and gold. Shikha sought ₹ 36,000 from the victim to release the said items. The victim transferred the money,” police added. The victim again received a call after two hours from the same caller seeking ₹2,55,800 in lieu of releasing the excessive gold brought by Vipan. Believing her, the victim again transferred the money following which the number of Vipan along with Shikha’s mobile was turned off. Realising that she was duped, the victim lodged a complaint with the cyber police here which registered a cheating and criminal conspiracy case on March 6 at Cyber police station in Sector 17. Police conducted raids at Lajpat Nagar and Govind Puri, Delhi following which accused Peter was arrested on June 23. During the investigation, the mobile phone used in the crime along with other mobile phones, SIM cards and ATM cards were recovered from his possession.
