Newlywed NRI couple looking to convert wedding gifts into Canadian dollars duped of Rs 43 lakh

A Surat-based man has been arrested. According to the FIR filed at Karelibaug police station, the Canada-based couple had sought help from social media groups about agencies or individuals who could help them exchange their currency.

The government has amended rules under the anti-money law, making it mandatory for banks and financial institutions to record financial transactions of politically exposed persons (PEP).(Representational/File)

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A Surat-based man has been arrested for allegedly cheating a newly married NRI couple that was looking to convert their ‘cash wedding gifts’ into ‘foreign currency’ through the Angadia system, an unofficial parallel banking system mostly used by traders. According to the FIR filed at Karelibaug police station, the Canada-based couple had sought help from social media groups about agencies or individuals who could help them exchange their currency.

The complainant, Arpan Patel, in his FIR, has said that his brother Deep had arrived from Canada for his wedding that was held on January 26, 2023, and the couple received Rs 43 lakhs in cash gifts. “Out of the cash gifts received by Deep and Janki (his bride), the complainant had decided to buy a house in Canada. So, Deep asked his cousin Vitul Patel to help find someone who could help convert the Indian rupees into Canadian dollars. Vitul led them to social media groups for Gujaratis in Canada through which they came in contact with the accused,” a police release said on Friday.

According to the police, the arrested man, Ranchchod Mer, and two other accused, Ankit Sidpara alias Dhrumil and Aarti Radadiya alias Rinkal, won the trust of the complainant, who sent Rs 43 lakh cash through an Angadia service to Mer in Surat. Once Mer had received the money, and allegedly even transferred the same to Ankit and Aarti in Canada, the trio switched off their phones.

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Police Inspector CR Jadav of Karelibaug police station told this newspaper, “On probing the details of the case, we learned that two other cases have also been registered against the same accused in Varachcha police station in Surat. One case was registered in 2021 and another case was registered just a few days before the complainant approached the Karelibaug police station… We tracked Mer, who is based in Surat, and arrested him on Friday. He will be produced in court, where we will seek his remand.”

Jadav added that Aarti and Ankit are based in Canada but belong to Junagadh and Dhoraji in Rajkot, respectively. “We are further probing the case and also the modus of operation of this kind of money transaction and foreign exchange… So far, the complainant has maintained that their cash was received through legal gifts during the wedding. We are also checking if they were using the correct means for the foreign conversion,” Jadav said.

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