Woman befriends politician on FB dupes him of Rs 10 lakh

Bengaluru: Acting on a complaint filed by a local politician, the Jnanabharathi police arrested three persons, including a woman on charges of duping the leader of Rs 10 lakh after befriending him on Facebook.

P Harini alias Swati Gowda alias Khushi (25), Ravi Pengappa (40) and V Prakash (39) all residents of Tigalarapalya are the arrested.

In a complaint filed with police on last Tuesday, the victim, L. Srinivas, a resident of Nagarabavai and JD(S) general secretary alleged that Harini had befriended him on Facebook in August this year. The two kept exchanging messages and went on to become good friends.

During one such conversation, Harini informed Srinivas that she was setting up a dance class. A few days later she informed him that her father had made arrangements for Rs 2 crore towards the investment but she was falling short of Rs 3 lakhs. An unsuspecting Srinivas offered to lend her the money and a man whom she said was her brother picked up the money from near a bus stand in Bangalore University campus

Later Harini once again messaged Srinivas stating that she was in urgent need of Rs 10 lakh and since her father was out of town she requested him to loan her the amount. Srinivas agreed to lend Rs 7 lakh to her and this time too the money was collected from the same spot by a man whom she said was her manager. However, when Srinivas tried to contact her, later in the day, her mobile was found switched off. After attempts to establish contact with her failed Srinivas realised that he had been cheated by the gang and immediately filed a complaint with Jnanabharathi police.

The police have registered a case and recovered cash of Rs 4.5 lakh, an autorickshaw and a mobile phone from the accused.