Bengaluru: “I need money to build a memorial for my recently dead mother, I need money for my grandmother’s treatment,” S Preeth Kumar, who claimed he was a DRDO officer, pleaded with a woman he had met on a matrimonial site only months earlier. The list of demands kept growing in the four months they interacted with each other, but he wouldn’t confirm his employment with the defence agency or share personal details.Yet, the 32-year-old woman, standing on the threshold of a new life with him, readily believed him and transferred Rs 2.3 lakh to his bank accounts from April to July. When the woman smelt a rat, he threatened to reveal her private photographs to buy her silence.According to a complaint filed by Kruthika (name changed), from Kacharakanahalli in east Bengaluru, the ordeal began after Preeth contacted her through a Tamil matrimonial website on April 24. He sent her a marriage interest request on the website.Preeth claimed he was a captain with DRDO. After initial exchanges, they started texting, sharing photographs and speaking on phone and video calls. He also spoke to Kruthika’s father on the phone about the proposed marriage. He claimed his mother recently passed away and that he was living with his grandmother.In the following weeks, he sought money on various pretexts. Amid the promise of marriage, she transferred more than Rs 2 lakh in multiple transactions, besides smaller payments she does not remember now. He would delay repayment, saying his salary and bank account had technical issues and could not be accessed.Whenever Kruthika asked him for identity proof, the accused would suddenly turn evasive, claiming defence personnel do not permit sharing documents or identity proofs. The woman later learnt the accused had misrepresented his identity and was not employed in the position he claimed.When he flatly refused to repay her, the woman warned him on July 13 that she would approach the police. In turn, he threatened to send her photographs to her father to silence her. She called helpline 1930 and lodged a complaint.She submitted chat messages, money-transfer records, screenshots, call logs, and the cybercrime complaint in support of her claims. Banasawadi police have registered a case of identity theft and cheating by using computers under Information Technology Act.
