Woman held for duping businessman of Rs 10 lakh

New Delhi: A woman has been arrested for posing as a British national and allegedly cheating one Andhra Pradesh-based businessman of Rs 10 lakh, police said on Friday. Theresa Jovita D'Souza alias Rhea Jannet Mallon, 39, a resident of Goa, was arrested by the Economic Offence Wing officials on Wednesday last when she came to collect Rs 1.20 lakh from near a hotel in Paharganj on the complaint of Kurnool-based businessman P Rahmatullah, Jt CP (EOW) Sandeep Goel said.

Rahmatullah, who deals in granite stone, was contacted through email by one Johnson Mallon who claimed to be a British citizen and showed interest in becoming his business partner in India.

The woman along with Johnson Mallon met the businessman's sons at a five-star hotel in New Delhi in which she introduced herself as Rhea Jannet Mallon, wife of Mallon, and both of them claimed to be British citizens, the official said. They had even given photocopies of their passports to him and promised huge investments in their granite business.

"Johnson Mallon also visited the complainant's granite factory in Adoni by air at his expenses. During these meetings, the accused persons informed the victim that their $8,00,000 (around Rs 4 crore) was stuck in IMF, Delhi which they intended to invest in the complainant's business," the official said.

Claiming that clearance of their money was getting delayed by the IMF and asked Rs 10 lakh from the victim, who anticipating it a good business proposal and heavy returns, transferred Rs nine lakh on two different occasions in two bank accounts as told by the accused persons, he said.

During interrogation she said that actually she was an Indian citizen and a native of Goa. She also told police that she used to do odd jobs in Goa and Mumbai prior to coming to Delhi.

She also revealed that her accomplices in the present offence are African nationals and not British citizens as told to the complainant. During search of her house, her original passport, copy of the letter written purportedly from IMF, 11 cheque books of different banks, credit and debit cards were recovered.