Indore ‘balloon seller’ held for defrauding Delhi man of Rs 1.62 lakh

A 29-year-old man was arrested for allegedly duping a trader on the pretext of selling balloons and snow sprays at very low prices, police said.

New Delhi: A 29-year-old man was arrested for allegedly duping a trader on the pretext of selling balloons and snow sprays at very low prices, police said on Friday.

The accused has been identified as Shekhar Makhija, a resident of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, they said, adding that he earlier used to run a small shop of balloons and snow spray.

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The victim in his complaint said he had come across a man named Harish on Facebook whose profile said he was a wholesale dealer of balloons and snow sprays, police said.

According to the victim, Harish was a member of a businessmen’s group dealing in balloons and snow sprays so he did not doubt his credentials and the two started talking in messages, said a police officer.

A deal was struck between them and the victim made an advance online payment of Rs 1,62,000 to Harish.

After he got the money, Harish left the group and vanished, the officer said.

Police located him in Indore, Madhya Pradesh and dispatched a team to the city, but it found that he had left for Delhi.

Makhija was nabbed from a hotel in Paharganj on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Sagar Singh Kalsi said.

During interrogation, Makhija revealed that he had made several Facebook profiles under fictitious names and managed to join different online businessmen groups to gain credibility.

When someone contacted him for balloons or snow spray, he would offer them a deal at a very low price as a blandishment and would vanish after getting the advance payment, the DCP said.

Makhija was previously found involved in three more cases of cheating with similar modus operandi in Delhi and Madhya Pradesh, police said.