Mumbai, July 19: A 68-year-old retired BEST official was allegedly duped of more than Rs 22 lakh by two youths, who befriended the senior citizen during his visits to a tea stall.

The duo accused would slyly ask the sexagenarian to give them his mobile phone for playing games. In this manner, they gained access to the man’s online payment gateway's login and password and siphoned off Rs 22,35,000 between April 8 and June 27, reported Times of India.

According to the Dindoshi police, the complainant had retired from service in 2012 and had received Rs 20 lakh as his retirement pay. He also had a property in Andheri, which he had sold for Rs 40 lakh.

The man had a deposit of Rs 26 lakh in a bank account. As a habit, he would frequent a tea stall near Dindoshi bus depot wherein he came in contact with both the youths Subham Tiwari and Aman Gupta and developed friendly relations with them. Maharashtra: Boyfriend Booked for Rape After 17-Year-Old Delivers Baby in Nagpur

Tiwari works as a fridge repairman while Gupta is a food app delivery boy. Tiwari would borrow the complainant's cellphone to play online games while they all had tea together. Gujarat Money Heist: 21 Farm Labourers, Unemployed Youngsters Fake IPL in Gujarat's Mehsana To Dupe Russian Punters; Four Arrested

On July 16, the complainant went to the bank to get his account statement and was stunned to find a balance of only Rs 20,509. On asking for a detailed statement, he found that between April and June, Rs 22.35 lakh had been transferred from his account. Tiwari and Gupta had operated his digital wallet and used his password to transfer the amount in phases through five UPI transactions.

After lodging an FIR, a team from Dindoshi police station, including officers Chandrakant Gharge and Vijay Pawar, in an operation headed by DCP Somnath Gharge, tracked the accused and arrested them. But the police are yet to make any recovery. The police said that the two accused were likely to have splurged some of the defrauded amount on drinks.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 19, 2022 04:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).