A 56-year-old Powai resident who lost Rs 6.62 lakh in a fake Mahanagar Gas Limited (MGL) gas bill scam has recovered the entire amount after the Dindoshi Sessions Court directed the accused to deposit the money into the complainant’s bank account before considering his anticipatory bail plea, police said. The accused, S.K. Shetty, a resident of Mangaluru, Karnataka, allegedly runs a catering business. Police said his bank account was used as a mule account by cyber fraudsters to receive the defrauded amount. The complainant, who runs a construction materials business, received the money in his account on Wednesday. Police said the court has not yet passed an order on Shetty’s bail plea but directed him to deposit the amount before entertaining the application.
According to the police, the complainant had almost lost hope of recovering his hard-earned savings, which he had kept aside over two years for his daughter’s marriage. The fraud forced him to postpone the wedding, originally scheduled for July 5. After the money was returned, he fixed the marriage for August 20 after the groom’s family agreed to postpone the ceremony. The case was registered on June 2 after the complainant received messages between May 12 and May 16 claiming that his MGL gas connection would be disconnected unless he updated his billing details. Believing the messages to be genuine, he downloaded an APK file and paid Rs 12. Soon afterwards, three unauthorised transactions of Rs 1,60,011, Rs 5,00,011 and Rs 2,299 were made from his bank account. The complainant immediately reported the fraud through the National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930), following which the Powai police registered an FIR.
Under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade, a team led by Senior Police Inspector A.S. Sawant tracked the money trail with assistance from the Mangaluru City Police. Police found that the money had been credited to Shetty’s account and withdrawn the same day through a cheque. Police said Shetty initially claimed the money was received from a client. However, notices were served to him. His anticipatory bail plea was rejected on June 30, and during subsequent proceedings, the court directed him to deposit the entire amount into the complainant’s account. Police said coordinated efforts between the Mumbai and Mangaluru police helped recover the full amount. They added that Mumbai residents lost over Rs 3 crore in MGL-related cyber frauds between March 25 and May 12.
