Woman claims Delhi man cheated her out of $70,000

A Maltese woman has filed a report with the police in India claiming that a Delhi-based man had duped her of $70,000.

The Indian police's economic offence wing registered the case after a Maltese woman (by the surname Borg) faxed a complaint to the Delhi Police Commissioner about a man who cheated her, The Times of India reported.

Davender Ram Ratwana, resident of Uttam Nagar, allegedly cheated Ms Borg of over $70,000 on the pretext of marrying her three years ago.

Mr Ratwana is yet to be arrested though he had been on anticipatory bail.

Ms Borg said in her complaint she got to know about the accused while the two used to chat on the internet in June 2001. After chatting with each other for four months, Mr Ratwana reportedly proposed marriage to Ms Borg. On the proposal being accepted, the man made Ms Borg speak to his family members on telephone.

When she expressed her wish to visit India, Mr Ratwana asked her to wait and instead told her to fund his trip to Malta, The Times of India reported.

In March 2002 the complainant sent $14,400 to the accused who stayed with her in Malta for a month.

"Before Mr Ratwana left, he promised to marry Ms Borg. On his return, the complainant informed the accused about her pregnancy," a police officer was reported as saying.

"On this, Mr Ratwana suggested Ms Borg to terminate her pregnancy. He pretended to be under family pressure to start a business of his own. Since Ms Borg wanted to marry Mr Ratwana, she sent $56,952 to Mr Ratwana's account."

The newspaper reported that in his bail application Mr Ratwana said he got upset when he learnt that the complainant lied about her first marriage.

Asked why it took a year for the EOW to register a formal complaint, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Dinesh Bhatt, was quoted as telling Indo-Asian News Service: "In cases where the complainant is an outsider we have to make local inquiries before we initiate procedures. Besides, it takes time to work on the case as the complainant is not readily available for questioning."

Attempts to obtain comments and, possibly, further details from the police in India about the matter proved fruitless.