Woman booked for defrauding public prosecutor from Bengaluru of ₹80,000

Mumbai: A woman was booked on Saturday for allegedly defrauding a special public prosecutor in Karnataka high court of ₹80,000. The lawyer alleged that the woman befriended him, gained his trust, and fraudulently gained access to his mobile phone and transferred money from his UPI-linked bank accounts.

The accused has been identified as Fatima Mohammed, the wife of an accused Akbar Shaikh who is lodged in a Karnataka Jail.

Mohammed also accessed the complainant’s old private photo with his wife (also a special public prosecutor) and threatened to upload it on social media if he lodged a police complaint against her.

In his complaint, the lawyer said that because of the nature of his profession, he meets family members of many people accused of various crimes and Mohammed was one such person.

As per the police complaint, on February 13, 2023, the woman, who is a resident of Ambernath had gone to the complainant’s chamber in Bangalore and requested him to help her with money as her father-in-law was unwell.

Later, Shaikh frequently visited the complainant and maintained a good relationship with him. She allegedly borrowed more money from the lawyer for various things, such as a deposit for a house on rent, skin treatments, dresses, etc, states the complaint.

The complainant was scheduled to come to Mumbai in the first week of March. When he informed Mohammed about it, she requested him to meet her at the Inorbit mall in Malad West. On March 2, the complainant and Mohammed met at a pizza shop.

“After some time, the woman took the complainant’s mobile and requested him to unlock it, as she wanted to take a picture. Trusting her, he unlocked the phone. Later, under the pretext of taking a mirror selfie, she took his phone to the bathroom along with her daughter. But as she did not return for a long time, the complainant checked her purse, which she had left on the table. He found a chit left inside it, informing him that she was forced to run away with his mobile phone, as she badly needed money,” states the complaint.

After a long time, Shaikh returned the complainant’s iPhone through an Ola driver. On checking the phone, the complainant found out that Shaikh had fraudulently transferred ₹80,000 from his two UPI-linked bank accounts. Later in the night, Shaikh sent him messages and informed him that on Google Drive, she had accessed the complainant’s old private photos with his wife (also a special public prosecutor), and threatened to upload them on social media, the complainant added in his statement to the police.

The complainant then approached the Bangur Nagar police station and reported the incident. The police have booked Shaikh under sections 420 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code and section 67A of the Information Technology Act.