New Delhi: A 52-year-old Iranian woman was arrested from a guesthouse in Saket in Delhi Thursday for allegedly duping an Indian-origin US citizen of $700 in currency notes at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
The woman has been identified as Fatemah Akbari and the victim as Baldev Singh, who hails from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, but has been residing in the US since 2001, the police said in a statement.
Singh had registered an FIR at the IGI Airport Police Station on 21 June, stating that on the night of 20 June, he was approached by an Iranian couple, along with a child, while he was unloading his luggage from a bus near departure gate 7 of the airport.
The couple, he said, claimed to be heading towards Dubai and struck a light-hearted conversation with him. On learning that he was travelling to the US, they requested Singh to show their child an Indian currency note.
Accepting their request, he handed the child a Rs 50 note. The couple then asked to see US currency notes. Relying on their good intentions, Singh took out a bundle of nine $100 notes from his side bag and showed it to them.
The couple took the notes, showed them to the child, and appeared to have returned the same bundle. However, on inspecting the notes later, Singh discovered that seven notes from the centre of the bundle had been replaced with five Rs 500 currency notes. The returned bundle had only two $100 notes at the top and bottom, according to the FIR registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections relating to cheating.
A special investigation team led by inspector Sushil Goyal, SHO, IGI Airport, was formed under the supervision of Additional Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport) Usha Rangnani to crack down on the case.
According to details of the probe in Rangnani’s statement, the team examined CCTV footage outside the airport and identified the vehicle used by the accused: a Renault Triber car registered under the name of Beena, a resident of Vikaspuri.
Further inquiry revealed an address linked to the CRPF Mahila Battalion registered for the vehicle. The team, upon visiting the address, found no record of Beena Kaur, but, on checking traffic challans for the vehicle, found a phone number. The inactive number was found registered under the name of Param Singh, Beena’s husband.
On further probe, the police found that the car had been rented to an Iranian family in February this year. Their contact number, shared with the car-owner, was found switched off, but the police managed to trace the car’s GPS location to a guesthouse in Saket.
The police team rushed there and apprehended Fatemah Akbari, but her husband, Mojtaba Zolfaghari, also an accused in the matter, managed to escape.
According to the ACP’s statement, Fatemah during questioning admitted to have been involved in the crime. She told the police that the couple were facing financial hardship and thus formulated a strategy to target foreign nationals at various locations such as Lajpat Nagar, Connaught Place, Khan Market, and the airport on various pretext.
The statement said Fatemah also disclosed that she and her husband had been involved in similar cheating and theft cases registered at police stations in Lajpat Nagar, Vasant Kunj, RK Puram and Gurugram.
The ACP stated that the couple hails from Tehran and are refugee status holders under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Efforts are on to nab the absconding accused, examine their bank accounts and track possible involvement in similar cases.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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