Nigerian held for duping engineer of Rs.15 lakh

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New Delhi, Nov 16: A Nigerian national was arrested from Delhi airport for duping an engineer of Rs.15 lakh on the pretext that he had won Rs.12 crore in an internet lottery draw, police said Wednesday.

Evan Tony, 38, a resident of Ubiaja in Nigeria, was arrested Tuesday, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma.

Ravi Mogra, a mechanical engineer who lives in Kondli in east Delhi, complained that he had been cheated of around Rs.15 lakh on the pretext of getting him the Rs.12 crore prize won by him in an internet lottery.

Mogra deposited around Rs.5 lakh in various accounts of the accused and paid Rs.10 lakh in cash.

After giving around Rs.15 lakh, Mogra was given an iron safe by the accused. The safe contained bundles of black powder coated paper of the size of currency notes.

Tony and his associates convinced Mogra that the iron safe contained black pounds, allegedly coated with chemical, to hide them from the customs.

‘They conned him by cleaning sample notes in his presence by a chemical which revealed that the coated papers were pounds,’ said Sharma.

They asked him to pay over Rs.23 lakh for the chemical used for cleaning the coated paper and turning it into currency notes, police said.

Mogra grew suspicious and filed a complaint in south Delhi’s Saket, where his first transaction with Tony took place. ‘We laid a trap and arrested Tony,’ said Sharma.

Tony told police he along with few associates, who are temporarily staying in rented premises in Mumbai, were involved in such incidents.

Police teams were sent to Bangalore and Mumbai to arrest Tony’s associates and to recover Mogra’s money.

IANS