Wayanad: An Odisha-based conman who was arrested by Wayanad cyber police on charges of swindling ₹13 lakh of a woman software engineer posed as a model in Mumbai and lavished proceeds from fraud on leading a luxurious lifestyle.

The police arrested Susheel Kumar Farida, 31, wanted in a series of online cheating cases in Kerala and many other states, from his hideout in Mumbai on Friday.

The police nailed him in March 2024, acting on a complaint filed by the software engineer. He had led a life as a model, ran a raft of fake accounts, and lured people with the promise of quick money by offering them home-based online jobs.

Susheel Kumar had offered the woman engineer a home-based job reviewing films online on Telegram. Later, he gained her trust and also promised huge returns through online trade. She transferred around ₹13 lakh to the youth in multiple transactions to several accounts.

Later, she realised that she had been conned and registered a complaint through the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal. The Wayanad Cyber Crime police later took over the case.

According to Wayanad Cyber Crime Police Station House Officer Shaju Joseph, it took many months for his team to zero in on the culprit. "Tracking the accounts through which the money was transferred, the cyber police team reached Chennai to collect bank account details from a prominent bank," he said.

It was an auto driver, Murugan at Chennai, who was taken into custody by the police team as part of the investigation, who gave the first clues about the culprit to the police. During the interrogation, Murukan confided that one Susheel Kumar, a native of Odisha, had opened accounts in several banks in Chennai, depositing small amounts in the name of phoney firms. He also used forged documents to source a mobile number and linked the accounts with the fake one. Later, police tracked the accused to Mumbai and monitored his online presence and movements.

The cops tracked him and launched a search operation on Wednesday, following signals from multiple electronic gadgets. "When the investigation came to a grinding halt, it was the intervention of Motor Vehicle Inspector Padmalal of Wayanad Regional Transport Office, who tracked the vehicle used by the accused, which guided the further investigation," he said.

The accused was nabbed by police while travelling in a posh car at Royal Palm Estate, Goregaon. Police also seized the luxury car, four mobile phones with multiple connections, several SIM cards, bank passbooks and ATM cards from the accused.

The accused also opened accounts in various cities using fake documents in the names of other individuals across the country for his fraudulent money transactions. He dexterously converted the money sourced through dark deals into cryptocurrency to evade police. The accused has two residential flats in Mumbai.

Apart from SHO Shaju Joseph, the Cyber Crime police team includes Sub Inspector A V Jaleel, Additional Sub Inspectors K Razaak, PP Haris, and Senior Civil Police Officer P Salam. "The team would continue the investigation as more accused, all accomplices of Susheel Kumar, are yet to be nabbed," Shaju Joseph said.