Mumbai police are looking for a conman who hypnotised a bank manager into parting with Rs. 93,000.
Bhupendra Kumar Maniram (52), a bank manager of Dadar branch of State Bank of Patiala, complained that he was duped by a conman. Although he handed over the money himself, he had no control on his own actions. He remembers little of what had happened.
Maniram was sitting at the desk of his office when a man walked in and introduced himself as MK Sharma, an officer from the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority.
Maniram said in his statement, “He met me under the pretext of opening a bank account for his brother, who he claimed was disabled. While I was discussing the procedure, I asked him about his profession and he told me that he works for MHADA. Very soon, he offered to help me get MHADA flats at a very reasonable rate.”
Maniram told to the police, “With his smooth talking, Sharma convinced me to invest in the project and immediately called up someone from his phone pretending to register my name. He also gave my address details and PAN card information to the person on the phone.”
Maniram next walked to the cashier and asked for Rs 90,000. He said in the statement that he was in a trance and had no control over himself. After when he collected money from the cashier, he walked to his cabin and gave the whole amount along with another Rs. 3,000 from his pocket to the accused. After 10 minutes, Maniram realised that he had been cheated.
A police officer from Dadar police station said, “Ten minutes later after Maniram came to his senses he realised that he had been cheated, but by that time the accused had disappeared with the money. Maniram only remembers taking the money from the cashier. He then approached the Dadar police station and registered a case of cheating.”
After the complained FIR was registered under Section 420 against the conman had used name MK Sharma.
Maniram said, “I would not like to give the details of the case at the moment. Please contact the Dadar police for any queries.”
Senior Police Inspector Nishikant Patil from Dadar police station said, “We retrieved the CCTV footage from the bank, and based on that, the accused’s sketch has been made. We have now launched a major manhunt for him.”
A CCTV picture of the accused at State Bank of Patiala, Dadar, MumbaiThe investigating officer Police Sub-Inspector Yashwantrao Shinde said, “The complainant was hypnotised into giving the money. Our investigation has revealed that the accused had also tried to dupe a manager at another bank in Dadar but failed.”
