Father plays false role to pinch 26 lakhs sent by relative to daughter of international school!

Father plays false role to pinch 26 lakhs sent by relative to daughter of international school! 

A relative has sent a sum of approximately 26 lakhs to an 18 year old girl as expenses for her to travel to England for further studies there which incidentally her business father is supposed to have strategically tried to pinch and has been taken into custody by a posse of policemen of Boralesgomuwa police yesterday (10). A police officer of Boralesgomuwa police said that a friend of the suspect alleged to have aided him in playing a dual
role in this fraudulent activity too was arrested. The bag containing about 26 lakhs of money which is supposed to have been snatched away in the process of this fraud was found in the suspect's home.The suspect who was initially taken into custody and was the father of the 18 year old daughter happened to be a provincial bank manager. Police say that he after leaving the bank was involved in his business activities. 

Chief inspector of police and officer in charge of Boralesgomuwa police station Mr. Priyankara de Silva with a team of police officers under instructions of Nugegoda superintendent of police Mr. Rohan Fernando carried out investigations and according to what was revealed was that the 18 year old daughter had been studying in an international school and was living with her father, a former provincial bank manager in Boralesgomuwa police division. 

This girl has over the phone spoken to an intimate relation of hers living in England about her desire to continue with further studies. She has also mentioned that as it was necessary to prove that some lakhs were available in the person's account to secure a visa to travel to such a country and that it was a difficult task to find that money. 

The relative has then promised to send that money to the girl and subsequently has send the cash (in pound notes) across a colleague coming over to this country, living in Bambalapitiya and has informed the girl about it. Thus the girl has gone in her father's vehicle to the Bambalapitiya house collect the money so sent. Having met the person who had come from England, the cash was then exchanged to Sri Lankan currency and the 26 lakhs was deposited in a bag. The father and mother having taken the bag of money had proceeded to deposit the monies in a private bank in Boralesgomuwa at about 12 in the afternoon yesterday. Subsequently the bag containing 26 lakhs worth cash taken to be deposited in the bank was plundered by two persons who had come on a motor bike in front of the said bank as complained to Boralesgomuwa by the girl's father. 

Accordingly police investigations were launched having visited the said bank where the robbery has supposed to have taken place. However, when police checked on footage of CCTV fixed in front of the said bank it was observed that the bag containing cash of the girl of 18 years in the possession of her father being actually palmed over to a person who had come on a motor bike, a senior police officer said. 

After it was thus confirmed from inspection of the CCTV footage that this however was not a robbery, the complainant was interrogated at length and it was revealed that the incident in reality was not a robbery. Under these circumstances the complainant was taken into custody, police say. The person who came near the bank to take the bag of money in fact was a friend of the girl's father and had taken the bag of money to the girl's house and had handed it over to her mother. Police say that this businessman was seriously in debt and that in order to settle those dues, this fraud has been executed over the monies sent by the relative to send his daughter overseas. Police then arrested this person under suspicion. 

- Shrinath Prasanna Jayasuriya -