Man withdraws lakhs from girlfriend’s account, caught

MUMBAI - Twenty-eight years old Amit Gupta made money quickly and in a novel way - through his girlfriend. After winning her trust and obtaining her ATM password, he quietly applied for new credit and debit cards and merrily began withdrawing money from her account. Several weeks and Rs.3.42 lakh later, he is now cooling his heels in jail.

Amit was nabbed by the Mumbai Police Wednesday.

“Amit Gupta, a resident of Borivali, was arrested on the charges of cheating and forgery,” investigating officer Shankar Khatke told reporters.

Amit met Pinky Singh a few months back at a pub. Pinky, who was unable to access her account, gave her ATM password to Amit, after which he withdrew the required amount and gave it to her.

“Later, Gupta also managed to get hold of Pinky’s driving license, thorough which he changed the postal address of her bank (HDFC),” Khatke said.

“After he started receiving the official bank documents at the new address, he applied for credit and debit cards, saying they were lost,” he added.

Khatke mentioned that Pinky had lodged a complaint in December 2010 that a sum of Rs.342,000 was fraudulently withdrawn from her savings account.

“We found Gupta’s CCTV footage from the ATM outlet,” Khatke said. “He not only cheated her by withdrawing the cash, but also forged her signatures,” he added.

Gupta has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 420 (cheating and dishonesty) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

Police are also on the lookout for another person who was involved with Amit, Khatke said.