A man has been arrested by the West Region Cyber Police for allegedly cheating a resident out of ₹1.07 crore by falsely promising to provide a low-cost house in Mumbai. The accused had lured the victim through a social media advertisement that claimed to offer affordable housing under the campaign titled "Apana Ghar Apne City Mai" (Own a Home in Your City).
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Over a period extending from November 2018 to November 2024, the accused extracted payments from Patil on various pretexts such as obtaining MHADA clearance and BMC No Objection Certificates. Altogether, the accused collected ₹1,07,50,000 from Patil but failed to deliver any property in return. Realising that he had been duped, the victim filed a complaint with the authorities.
The cyber police unit of the Mumbai Crime Branch’s West Region Cyber Police took up the investigation. During their inquiry, officials tracked the IP logs associated with the email used in the fraud and collected data from the linked Facebook page and several related bank accounts. Based on technical analysis, the police zeroed in on a suspect, identified as 36-year-old Saiyam Devmani Pandey, a resident of Badlapur East in Thane district.
A team led by Assistant Police Inspector Gache detained Pandey from his residence and placed him under arrest. During questioning, the accused confessed to receiving the entire sum of ₹1.07 crore from the complainant into an ICICI Bank account.
Following the arrest, the police seized several items from the accused’s possession, including three mobile phones, a laptop, an iPad, a bank passbook, two cheque books, twenty-three debit cards and a SIM card. Investigators believe there may be more victims who were targeted using the same fraudulent housing scheme, and further inquiries are underway to uncover the full extent of the scam.