Three Nigerians among five held for cheating

Five persons, including three Nigerians, were arrested for allegedly cheating two persons from Hyderabad to the tune of several lakhs by promising them partnership in diamonds trade, police said today.
One of the two victims had committed suicide as he lost Rs 11 lakh to the fraudsters, DCP (crime) Parag Manere told reporters here.
Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, police said Terry Ennem Joseph of Nigeria had befriended one T. Pravin Kumar of Hyderabad on a social networking site some ten months back.
"Joseph had informed Pravin Kumar of his intention to start business in India for which he would be sending golden biscuits and diamonds," the DCP said.

The officer said Joseph asked Kumar to deposit Rs 11 lakh in different accounts to get the consignment of diamonds and gold biscuits cleared, which he did.
"However, Kumar did not receive the promised consignment, following which he went into depression and later committed suicide at his house in Hyderabad," Manere said.

He said Kumar's friend N R Sadashiva was also allegedly cheated around same time by Joseph to the tune of Rs 3.75 lakh.
During the investigation, Hyderabad police traced one of the bank accounts to Dombivali in Thane district, which was in name of Laxman Mali.
After police traced Mali, he revealed that he allowed the transaction in his account at the behest of one Mahesh Damodar Rajput alias Rajesh Gupta who used to pay him a commission of 2 per cent on each transaction.

After Gupta spilled beans, police yesterday apprehended Frank, Velentine and Kevin (all 1round 35 years), but Joseph is still at large.