Man held for duping girls, playing casanova on Facebook

Mumbai, Jul 21: A man was held by the police after he fooled several teenage girls into parting with jewellery and cash on Facebook claiming to be a NRI.

23-year-old, Vijay Bahadur Khatri was behind the bars after he mislead at least 25 girls by deceit after befriending them on the social networking site claiming that his parents were in the United States, "impressing" the girls by spending a lot of money while meeting them.

He would later fool the girls by telling them that he spent his parent's money thoughtlessly in business and ask them money urgently to show to his parents, whom he said would come in a few days.

"Khatri, who hails from Nepal, used to tell the girls that his parents were in the United States and he had come to India to study," said a police officer.

"He would befriend them on Facebook, ask to meet them after getting close and then impress them by wearing good clothes and spending a lot of money on their dates. He would also claim to be a Jain," she said.

"He would later tell the girls that he had lost his parents' money in a business, which he couldn't tell them about, and needed to show a few lakh of rupees to them when they came to India in a few days.

"When the girls said they did not have that much money, he would suggest that they give him their mother's jewellery, which he would mortgage and return as soon as his parents went back," he added.

He would however never get back in contact with the girls.

Khatri was later arrested by special squad, Western suburbs from Kurla after a girl filed a complaint against him with the police.

"Khatri first became a good friend on Facebook. He used to always say that his parents were in the US and he had come to India to study," read the girl's statement.

"After meeting me, he convinced me to bring jewellery from my house as he needed some money to show his parents when they came to India. He had said he would mortgage the jewellery for some time and then return it to me.

"He stopped answering my calls the day I gave him the jewellery and his phone was perennially switched off after that," read the statement.

"Three girls filed an official complaint against Khatri with the police and we have found numbers of 25 other girls on his cellphone. We are now investigating whether he has duped those girls too," said a police official.

"He was arrested under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and has been remanded to police custody till July 25," he added.

OneIndia News