Daijiworld Media Network - Kalyan
Kalyan, Aug 29: A 38-year-old woman from Dombivli ended her life on Tuesday after discovering that a bank account opened in her name using forged documents was linked to multiple cyber fraud cases worth over Rs 1.5 crore across several states.
The deceased has been identified as Devika Armugam Pandaram, a divorcee who resided with her father at Sairam Society in Dombivli (East). She worked petty jobs to support herself.
According to police sources, the ordeal began on August 8 when officers from the Churu Cyber Cell police station in Rajasthan visited Pandaram’s residence. They served her a notice to appear for questioning regarding an offense registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Information Technology (IT) Act.
Anxious over the notice, Pandaram and her father approached the Cyber Crime Department at the Thane Police Commissionerate for clarification. To her shock, officials revealed that her identity documents had been used to open a bank account that facilitated fraudulent transactions across Rajasthan, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.
Providing details on the case, Assistant Commissioner of Police Suhas Hemade stated, “Preliminary investigation indicates that a man from Rajasthan, who is related to the victim's family, misused her documents to open the bank account. The account was subsequently utilized by cyber fraudsters to execute transactions amounting to nearly Rs 1.5 crore.”
Distressed by the police notice and terrified at the prospect of traveling to multiple states to face interrogation for a crime she did not commit, Pandaram succumbed to severe anxiety. She took the extreme step at her residence around 4:00 PM on Tuesday.
Family members immediately rushed her to a nearby private hospital, from where she was referred to the KDMC-run Shastri Nagar Hospital. However, attending doctors declared her brought dead on arrival.
The Manpada police have currently registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) and initiated a detailed probe into the incident. Further investigation is under way to track down the culprit who forged her documents and to dismantle the larger cyber fraud network involved.