Odisha youth dupes West Bengal girl of Rs 64 Lakh on the pretext of marriage

Sambalpur: A youth allegedly duped a girl of around Rs 64 lakh by promising her to marry. The matter came to the fore today after the victim girl identified as Shoma Ghosh reached the house of the accused in Sambalpur district and also lodged an FIR in this regard with local police.

The girl is a resident of South Subhash Palli locality in Hooghly district of West Bengal.

The accused has been identified Rahul Rakshit, a resident of Town police limits in Sambalpur.

According to the FIR, Shoma had come in contact with the youth nearly two and half years ago in 2021 through a matrimonial site. Gradually, the youth lured the girl by pretending to be from a rich family. After the two became closer to each other, Rahul started duping money from the girl saying that he was in trouble and would return the entire amount after his financial condition became normal.

Shoma helped the youth and lent him a total of Rs 64 lakh in different phases in online mode through Google Pay and PhonPe payment gateways, a part of which was her own and she had borrowed the remaining amount from her relatives. She is an LIC agent by occupation.

However, at a point in time, Rahul avoided the girl and did not receive her phone calls. Even to the extent, he did not keep any contact with her and ended the relationship.

“I had saved some money for my marriage. I helped the youth when his business was running at a loss (as he told me earlier). However, he did not refund me the borrowed money. When I went to Rahul’s house today, he strangled my neck and warned of dire consequences,” Shoma said mediapersons.