‘Inspired’ by Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, man cheats multiple women during train and bus journeys, arrested

Buses and trains would be his preferred hunting grounds where he would target gullible women, charming them with his style of talking and impressing them with fake job titles and profile, said police. Choudhary would pose as a government officer or businessman living in Delhi Cantt area to impress the women, they added.

However, his run was cut short after Rashmi approached police. An FIR was filed against Choudhary under IPC sections pertaining to cheating.

“The woman approached the local staff and later joined the investigation last week,” said an officer.

Confirming Rashmi’s case, a police official said, “During the bus journey, he stole all her gold jewellery. He also made her transfer money through UPI when she was not in her senses.”

DCP (Southwest) Rohit Meena said that after the complaint, a team followed the route of the bus from Noida and checked multiple hotels and taxis, auto-rickshaws and bus stops. The staff also analysed footage from several markets in Delhi and finally found one showing the complainant with the accused.

“Technical surveillance was done and informers were deployed. On Monday, we were told that the accused would be coming to Kashmiri Gate Bus Terminal. The team laid a trap and managed to apprehend him before he could flee,” added DCP Meena.

The accused is a resident of Saharanpur, police said. Police said they found a necklace, and several rings, earrings and other gold articles in his bag. Many of these items belonged to the complainant. Police said they also traced the cheated money and recovered tablets of Alprazolam drug from his possession.

Police said that not only would Choudhary cheat women by lying to them but would also sedate them using Alprazolam tablets and rob all their valuables. Police have seized a leaflet of such tablets from his possession.

During interrogation, Choudhary confessed he would mainly target women in buses or trains, said police. DCP Meena said Choudhary would also drug his victims to rob them. “He was inspired by Ladies vs Ricky Bahl. He cheated them on the pretext of a job or marriage. He earlier used to work as a conductor/helper with truck drivers. He was caught last year from Bareilly in a similar case but got out on bail,” he said.

Officials said that Choudhary had disclosed his involvement in at least 10 similar cases. Police are looking for the women Choudhary targeted and have found three cases against him, said officials.