East Khasi Hills superintendent of police M. Kharkrang said a woman from Mylliem, about 15km from here, had lodged a complaint on May 27 about one William, who befriended her on Facebook.
“He (William) had lured the woman to deposit money in different accounts on different occasions, amounting to Rs 3 lakh. It was only then that she realised she had been cheated,” Kharkrang said.
He said the investigating officer, inspector B.K. Mishra, who is in charge of Laban police station, took up the case with the banks concerned to freeze the different accounts where the victim had deposited the money.
Mishra managed to freeze about Rs 1 lakh in cash before tracking the suspects, Kharkrang said.
In the course of investigations, the police traced the suspects to different places like Sikkim and Delhi. Mishra managed to arrest one of the account holders with the help of Delhi police.
The accused has been identified as Anju Gurung, 26, who hailed from Sikkim but is working in New Delhi, Kharkrang said. Gurung was brought to Shillong on transit remand and is at present in police custody. However, the other accused are still evading arrest, he added.
“We would like to remind the public, especially women, not to be enticed into depositing money for any strangers whom they befriend on the Internet. Though the police is committed to arresting the accused, it will be unfortunate for people to lose money in spite of repeated warnings,” Kharkrang said.
Rape attempt: In another incident, Kharkrang said some workers in a hotel in Khyndailad forcibly entered a room occupied by a 31-year-old woman around 10 last night.
He said the workers tried to enter through the ventilator with the intent to rape her. However, Kharkrang said the woman locked herself in the bathroom and managed to inform her relatives over phone and they informed the police.
When police went to the hotel, they were prevented from entering the building as the shutter was forcibly shut, he said.
After storming the main entrance, police arrested Kajal Paul, 22, Belkish Reang, 23, Bharat Jamatia, 26, Md Khaliuddin, 26, and Shiva Ranjan Ray, 23.
While Paul and Reang were the ones who tried to make a forceful entry through the ventilator, the other three prevented the police from entering the building, Kharkrang said.