Navi Mumbai Cyber Police has arrested a conman from Dehradun who, taking a cue from the movie Dream Girl of Ayushmann Khurrana, impersonated a female on the Bumble dating app and cheated a Navi Mumbai businessman of Rs 33.37 lakh citing various personal reasons. The accused, 24-year-old Sanjay Kailashchand Meena, posed as a woman named Pragati Dahiya and trapped the 54-year-old businessman from Ghansoli in an online relationship, gradually extracting money from him under false pretenses.
The businessman, who had joined the dating app in March 2024, was lured into Meena’s trap through regular chats. Over four months, Meena manipulated him by faking love and gained his sympathy by narrating personal crises stories, including a fabricated story about his mother’s hospitalization. Between March 10 and June 30, the businessman transferred a total of Rs 33.37 lakh to Meena, believing he was helping someone in distress.
In August, realizing he had been duped, the businessman filed a complaint at the Navi Mumbai Cyber Police Station. The case was being investigated under the supervision of Senior Police Inspector Gajanan Kadam, and Police Sub-Inspector Vishal Padir leading the investigation. “We analyzed mobile records and bank transactions, eventually tracing the accused to Dehradun, Uttarakhand. He was apprehended. During interrogation, he confessed to the crime and admitted to using the swindled money to purchase a luxury Volkswagen car and spend lavishly on young women across Delhi, Dehradun, Gujarat, and Bangalore,” Kadam said.
Meena, a native of Bukna, Karauli, Rajasthan, holds an engineering degree. Upon his arrest, police seized a Volkswagen car, eight mobile phones, eight SIM cards, an Apple MacBook, a hard disk, and a dongle from him. Investigators suspect that he may have deceived multiple other victims using similar tactics and the further investigations about the same are on.
