THANE: A serial conman from Malad , who impersonated as a senior government official on a matrimonial website and cheated a woman of close to Rs 1.7 lakh and another of Rs 18 lakh, was sentenced to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and told to pay both Rs 2 lakh each. Police say he has allegedly similarly cheated other women in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru too. Magistrate R H Jha held Tanmay Goswami (42) guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 420 for cheating and 406 for criminal breach of trust and IT Act’s Section 66 (D).The prosecutor told the court that the first woman, who works as a manager in a private company, posted her profile on the matrimonial site and met Goswami in November 2015. He introduced himself as an assistant commissioner in Indian Revenue Service posted in Kolkata. When she asked to see his identity card, he refused to show it saying it was confidential. He told her that his father was dead, his mother lived in Kolkata and sister in the US. He took her to his flat saying it was his cousin sister’s. In February 2016, he asked the woman for Rs 1 lakh to buy a flat in a Mhada building. Next month, he asked her for Rs 68,000 to buy a car.On June 11, 2016, the woman received a call from the “cousin” who said she was, in fact, Goswami’s wife. She said they had exchanged vows on February 26, 2016, at Siddhivinayak Temple. She later showed her wedding photographs and said she herself had only just learnt that Goswami had similarly cheated other women and had been arrested. The “wife” told her she too was cheated of Rs 18 lakh and that he was already married to yet another woman and had a 10-year-old son.The judge relied on evidence presented by the women and the investigators. One of the women deposed from another country. The magistrate observed, “Considering the nature of the offence, in my opinion, the accused has committed a very serious offence which affects society at large... It is proved that the accused has committed an offence by creating false and fake IDs and profiles on a matrimonial website. The accused has committed criminal breach of trust of many ladies. Therefore, considering the offence, the benefit of the Probation of Offender Act cannot be extended to the accused.”

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