The Delhi Police Cyber Cell in the North-West district has arrested a man from Maharashtra for allegedly duping people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of arranging overseas jobs and visas, officials said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Anup Dharmole (37), a resident of Parner in Maharashtra’s Ahilya Nagar district, was allegedly operating under a fake identity and living in hotels across Mumbai and nearby areas to evade arrest.
The police said he cheated a Delhi resident of Rs 9.25 lakh by promising visa processing and overseas employment opportunities.
According to the police, the complainant, a resident of Shalimar Bagh, had applied for overseas jobs through a job portal and was later contacted on WhatsApp by the accused posing as a visa consultant. Over time, the victim was allegedly persuaded to transfer money under various heads, including visa processing fees and clearance charges.
Following the complaint, an e-FIR was registered at the Cyber police station, North-West district, under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on March 24, 2026.
During the probe, investigators found that the phone number used by the accused was registered using a fake identity. The money trail led the police to several bank accounts belonging to managers working at clubs in Mumbai. Initially, officers suspected the accounts to be mule accounts, but further questioning revealed a different pattern.
The police said Dharmole would frequent clubs, build rapport with staff using a false identity — “Praveen Sudhakar Deshmukh” — and transfer cheated money into their accounts. The excess amount would then be used to settle his expenses at the clubs while helping him avoid direct financial scrutiny.
Investigators also discovered that the accused had severed ties with his family around three years ago and had since been constantly changing hotels and identities to avoid detection. After sustained technical surveillance and multiple raids over a week, the police finally traced and arrested him from a hotel in Panvel, Maharashtra.
Three mobile phones and a laptop allegedly used in the crime were recovered from his possession.
The police said Dharmole is a habitual offender and has previously been booked in at least three cheating cases registered in Maharashtra and Uttarakhand between 2020 and 2023.
During his arrest, the police also identified two more individuals whom the accused was allegedly trying to cheat using similar promises of overseas employment.
One of them, a Maharashtra resident, had already paid Rs 25,000 as advance payment and was preparing to transfer the remaining amount. Another victim from Haryana was allegedly scheduled for an interview and was about to pay an advance fee. The police contacted both individuals and warned them about the fraud, preventing further financial loss.
