Woman alleges man she met on Bumble dating app posed as police officer, duped her of ₹79,700

A 35-year-old woman from Ahmedabad has lodged a police complaint alleging that a man she met through the dating application Bumble posed as a Police Sub-Inspector and duped her of ₹79,700 on the pretext of urgent financial needs.

The complaint was registered at the Navrangpura Police Station against the accused, identified as Himanshu Panchal, who allegedly introduced himself as 'Rocky Panchal' and claimed to be serving in the Gujarat Police.

According to police, the complainant, Suman Gohil, who works as a manager with a health insurance company in Ahmedabad, had created a profile on Bumble as she was seeking a prospective marriage partner.

Police said the complainant matched with a profile named 'Rocky Panchal' on May 11. The profile allegedly featured photographs of the accused in police uniform, prompting the complainant to respond to his messages.

The accused later connected with her on Instagram through an account identified as 'procky_9000', where he had allegedly described himself as a 'crime branch cyber security officer' in the profile bio.

According to the complaint, the accused remained in contact with the woman for several days through calls, video calls and messages, during which he allegedly claimed to be serving as a Police Sub-Inspector in the Gujarat Police and expressed his intention to marry her.

Police said the accused visited the complainant at her residence in Navrangpura on May 16 and allegedly told her that construction work at his house in Satellite was under way and that he urgently needed ₹1 lakh to pay a contractor.

The accused claimed he was short of ₹79,700 and persuaded the complainant to transfer the amount through Google Pay, citing a limit issue with his own UPI account.

The complainant subsequently transferred ₹79,700 to a mobile number allegedly used by the accused on May 17.

Later the same day, the accused allegedly met the complainant again and accompanied her to a café near Tapovan Circle on the SG Highway ring road area.

However, police said the complainant became suspicious after the accused allegedly demanded money again later that night for purchasing two mobile phones for “police work” and sought her Aadhaar and PAN card details.

The next day, the accused allegedly demanded an additional ₹38,000, following which the complainant conducted inquiries and allegedly discovered that the man was not employed with any police station and that his real identity was Himanshu Panchal.

Police said the accused allegedly gained the complainant’s confidence by falsely posing as a police officer and obtained money from her under false pretences.

A case of cheating and impersonation has been registered, and further investigation is under way.