Shimla: Woman held for Rs 25 lakh Canada visa fraud
A woman has been arrested from Punjab for allegedly duping another woman of Rs 25 lakh on the pretext of arranging a visa to Canada, the police said here on Monday. The accused has been identified as Manju Kumari while the victim is Bhavna.
As per a complaint lodged by the victim’s brother at the West Shimla police station, he alleged that the accused had taken Rs 25 lakh from them for providing Bhavna with a visa to Canada. The police registered a case and initiated an investigation. She was arrested from a flat in Kharar (Punjab) on Sunday and brought to Shimla.
SSP, Shimla, Gaurav Singh said that an investigation was going on under Sections 318(4) (cheating), 61(2) (criminal conspiracy) intentional insult and 352(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS)-2023.
He said that the accused remained in touch with Bhavna for a while and took money from her several times. “However, she later started to ignore their calls, making Bhavna suspicious of being defrauded. The police had also tried to arrest her earlier and had been looking for her in Haryana and Punjab. However, to evade arrest, she kept changing SIM cards and used WhatsApp calls to contact Bhavna," he added. The SSP said that the police were also investigating whether the accused was part of a racket or more persons were involved in the fraud.
