Man posing as army major cheats woman auditor of Rs 22 lakh on pretext of marriage
A senior auditor lost Rs 22.06 lakh to a man she met on a defence matrimony site who posed as an army major and promised to marry her
A shocking case has come to light in the Beltarodi police station area, in which a man posing as an army major cheated a woman auditor of Rs 22 lakh 6 thousand 200 on the pretext of marriage. The victim works as a senior auditor at the office of the Principal Accountant General, and the accused had contacted her through a defence matrimony site.
According to police, Neha Shashi Singh (41), a resident of Narendra Nagar, had been looking for a life partner after her divorce in 2018. In July 2022 she created a profile on a defence matrimony website, where she came into contact with Mandeep Sunil Sharma (32), a resident of Hatwar village in Ghumarwin tehsil of Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh.
Mandeep had described himself as an army major on his matrimonial profile and also told Neha that he was posted with the Rashtriya Rifles in Jammu and Kashmir. To gain her trust, he sent her photos and videos of himself in army uniform, which convinced Neha that he was indeed an army officer.
As their conversations grew, Mandeep spoke of marrying Neha soon and, in February 2023, assured her of marriage. Around the same time, he said he wanted to leave his army job and start a transport business, for which he needed money. Trusting his promise of marriage, Neha agreed to give him money, taking loans from her office society and a bank for the purpose. She then transferred a total of Rs 22 lakh 6 thousand 200 in installments through net banking and PhonePe to the bank accounts of Mandeep and his cousin.
As soon as he received the money, Mandeep's attitude changed and he began avoiding her calls. When Neha asked for her money back, he returned only Rs 50,000 and then stopped answering her calls altogether. After repeated attempts went unanswered, Neha realised she had been cheated and went to Beltarodi police station to lodge a complaint.
Based on the complaint, Beltarodi police have registered a case against Mandeep Sunil Sharma under sections 170, 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Police are investigating the case, including whether the accused had actually served in the army, how much of the information on his matrimonial profile was true, and where the money he took from Neha was used.
