DNA
Mumbai, Oct 26: For four years, he had been masquerading as a doctor and an Army colonel, duping several banks and people of money. But the “good time” came to an end when Numan Darwesh, 32, landed in the police dragnet on Thursday October 25.
A resident of Malwani, Darwesh was done in when officials of a private bank, from which he had availed a loan of Rs6 lakh by posing as a doctor from Tata Memorial Hospital, went to the hospital to verify his credentials. They found that Darwesh had used a fake identity card to avail the loan. A complaint was registered with Bhoiwada police, who promptly arrested the fraudster. Charged with cheating and forgery, Darwesh has been remanded in police custody till November 2.
Police recovered from him a fake identity card and uniform of an Indian Army Colonel, a laptop, few bank documents and a car fitted with a red beacon, proclaiming VIP status.
Preliminary investigations indicated that Darwesh used the fake identity cards to take out loans from several banks. “We are checking his laptop to find out about the other banks from where he availed loans,” said a police officer on condition of anonymity.
Police also found out that Darwesh, an HSC pass-out with impeccable English, charmed and lured various women in his assumed roles. He admitted to the cops that he was married for six years and had five children.
Police would now try make him spill the beans about how he got the fake identity cards made, and also check whether he was part of a larger network. The total amount to which he duped the banks was also to be established. “It appears that he duped a couple of banks. We will try to make him admit the exact amount,” said the officer.
The probe team would also question his wife and relatives to find out if they were aware of his illegal activities. There were rumours that Darwesh was a suspected ISI agent, but police summarily dismissed them. “We are investigating the case. Nothing about his suspected ISI links have come out yet,” said Sunil Ramanand, deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV).