Sri Lankans among duped:

Indian held for martial arts website fraud

A 40-year-old science graduate from Nainital, India was arrested for hacking the website of a Japanese martial arts association and using it to dupe martial arts’ tutors across India, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries over the past few years.

The Navghar police at Mulund (East) said the victims approached Mazhar Asif Shaikh through the hacked website - www.jkiindia.jkiworld.com.

Investigating officials said Shaikh claimed to be director, Asia-Pacific, of Japan Shotokanryu Karatedo of India (JKI) and promised to provide affiliation to the association and entry into a tournament organized by JKI, for a fee. The amount thus collected could run into millions of rupees, the officials said.

“Shaikh took to crime to shelter his two wives and 10 children who reside at Nainital and Pune, respectively,” said the police officer. Shaikh finally ran out of luck when he duped Mulund-based national martial arts champion Nilesh Patil (name changed on request) of Rs 5.35 lakh. He had come in contact with Patil through one of his Sri Lankan friends a year ago.

“I got suspicious when Shaikh started giving me excuses instead of a visa for participating in a tournament in 2009,” Patil said Tuesday.

“Shaikh mailed me the details to get entry into the tournament for which he collected my passport, the documents required for visa processing and Rs 5.35 lakh on five occasions. I complained to the police a few days ago.” Patil kept a watch on Shaikh’s swindling spree through his friends in Sri Lanka and India.

“Through his Sri Lankan friends, I learnt of a Karnataka-based martial arts tutor whom Shaikh had duped to the tune of Rs 19 lakh. We got together to teach Shaikh a lesson,” he said. When Patil learnt that Shaikh had come down to Pune to visit his second wife on Sunday, he tipped off the Navghar police. Deputy commissioner of police (Zone VII) Sanjay Shintre formed a team with Navghar senior inspector Shrimant Gule, inspector Mahesh Devikar and others, who arrested Shaikh.

Times of India