After reports of an NRI man being cheated of Rs 65 lakh by a woman named Malavika Devati surfaced, a techie and a native of Andhra Pradesh residing in Hyderabad approached the police claiming the woman had cheated him of Rs 1.2 crore. Police are on the lookout for more victims of the fraudster.
44-year-old Malavika was previously accused in several matrimony cheating cases and taken into judicial custody on May 27. Her latest victim, a native of Andhra Pradesh is a software professional who approached the KPHB police station on Monday after seeing news reports. The techie alleged that Malavika had cheated him since August 2017 when they started chatting over telugumatrimony.com. Malavika stands accused of using matrimonial websites to lure victims on the pretext of marriage.
Police say Malavika created a fake account, this time using the name 'Anu Pallavi Maganti'. She introduced herself to the techie as a wealthy Indian doctor with origins in the USA. She also claimed that both her parents were doctors but her father had passed away in 2010. She also claimed to be a resident of Jubilee Hills, a posh locality in Hyderabad.
Speaking to TNM, the KPHB police station inspector S Laxmi Narayana said, "The complainant says he had expressed interest in marrying the accused and wanted to meet her. However, she told him that her family was against the proposal and they were planning to get her married to a rich businessman's son. The victim was emotionally trapped, the woman claimed she needed the money to fight a legal case against her family," said. The techie was promised joint custody of her property and thus trusted the accused, the inspector added.
The officer said the Andhra techie dug into his savings and even borrowed money to meet the demands made by the accused.
The KPHB police registered a case under section 420 (Cheating and dishonesty), Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) and Section 66 (Computer-related offences) of the Information Technology Act 2000.
Malavika was arrested on May 27 by the Jubilee Hills police station based on a complaint given over video conferencing by a US-based NRI. The Jubilee Hills police took into judicial custody Malavika Devati and her son Venkateswara Pranav Lalith Gopal Devati (aged 22). The son is accused of helping his mother creating the accounts. Malavika’s husband Srinivas Devati is absconding.
"We are still on the lookout for the husband. We are collecting evidence on these new allegations and are yet to question her with respect to this case," added Laxmi.
This is not the first time the police have booked Malavika for fraud; she was involved in a cheating case under the Nallakunta and Marredpally police station limits along with her husband and mother-in-law before. She was also involved in a similar case of cheating an NRI in 2014 where she used the alias Geethanjali and a similar modus operandi on a matrimonial site. A case regarding this was registered in the Cyber Crime, City Crime Station (CCS), Hyderabad.