Ahmedabad: A 32-year-old man from Madhavpura has lodged a complaint alleging he was duped of Rs 45,000 by an unidentified caller who demanded money, claiming that the parole for his jailed cousin had been approved.The complaint was filed on Thursday with Madhavpura police by Suresh Patani, a resident near Idgah Circle in Madhavpura. The complainant said that his uncle’s son Anilbhai is lodged in Sabarmati Central Jail in connection with a Nikol police case, while another cousin is currently out on bail. The family had approached court seeking parole.According to his complaint, in Feb he received a call from an unknown mobile number. The caller spoke in Hindi, introduced himself, and claimed he was calling from the central jail. He informed the complainant that his cousin’s parole for 15 days had been approved and demanded Rs 15,000. The caller also said he would send a receipt for the payment and insisted it be made immediately, warning that the parole would otherwise be cancelled.Suresh stated that he was asked to transfer the amount to a mobile number. As he was unable to make the payment online, his cousin Ajay transferred Rs 15,000 digitally, and later another Rs 2,000 after the caller claimed it was needed as lawyer fees.The complainant added that the following day, on Feb 19, another Rs 28,000 was allegedly “automatically deducted” from Ajay’s online bank account, taking the total loss to Rs 45,000. He said the matter was first reported to the cybercrime helpline 1930, and a formal complaint was eventually registered with Madhavpura police on Thursday.
