MUMBAI: More than a year after a teenage collegian died by suicide after being cheated by cyber scammers, Govt Railway Police (GRP) arrested one of the accused from Madhya Pradesh. Harish Meghwal, the 27-year-old accused, had been booked by the MP police in a separate case of vehicle theft. He is a native of Rajasthan and was a partial beneficiary of the money scammed from the teen.The suicide incident was reported on Jan 21, 2025. No suicide note was found but his phone was sent for forensic analysis. It was revealed that the teen had been targeted in a task fraud online. In Dec 2024, scammers contacted him over the Telegram app and convinced him to give virtual ratings to establishments in return for a commission. He started completing tasks given to him. Next, the scammers asked him to make an investment to earn a higheramount. He paid Rs 49,000 through UPI, with two of the five payments made on the same day that he took the drastic step. GRP deduced that the youngster was under stress after learning that he had been scammed. Based on preliminary probe findings, Andheri GRP registered a case of suicide abetment in Dec 2025.“The phone numbers linked to the UPI IDs of the scammers were switched off. We tracked down one of the bank accounts of the beneficiaries to Rajasthan. It belonged to Meghwal,” said a GRP official.Meghwal was traced to an MP prison where he was sentenced for vehicle theft. The GRP team then took a transit remand and brought Meghwal from MP to Mumbai. Meghwal reportedly told the GRP that he had handed over his bank kit to a man who offered him a commission for it. His bank account was then used as a mule account. More arrests are likely in the case.
