Nigerian accused of duping Chandigarh resident denied bail

Chandigarh, July 12

A local court has dismissed the bail application of Francis Emeka, a resident of Nigeria, who allegedly cheated a Chandigarh resident by posing as a woman on Facebook.

The accused was arrested on the complaint of a city resident, Sadho Singh. He alleged that the accused introduced himself as a woman from the UK. Emeka cooked up a story that her husband had died and the money left by him was to be distributed among the poor. Thereafter, the complainant was asked to get a courier carrying a huge amount of money released from the officials concerned. The courier contained nothing and the accused also posed as an official and chatted with the complainant on WhatsApp and sent fake certificates by the Ministry of Finance, Income Tax Clearance certificate, police verification certificate and custom certificate to gain his trust. Thereby, the complainant was duped of Rs14.62 lakh.

The counsel for the accused argued that he will get the Indian citizenship in two years and will not abscond from the trial. On the other hand, the public prosecutor opposed the bail by saying that the charges against the accused are serious. After hearing the arguments, the court dismissed the bail application of the accused. — TNS