On December 3, Reverend Timothy Joshi of the New Life Church Ministry, in Kantibhai (Darjeeling), was arrested for allegedly duping the Nagaland woman by convincing her to buy a ‘mystery box’ worth Rs 3.5 crore that would shower the victim with great fortune. The police have been successful in uncovering other cases of duping against the pastor and his brother whose pool of victims generally came from the North-East.
A master at the art of duping, pastor Joshi sewed up a whole narrative behind the mystery box. He claimed to have procured the mystery box from a Kolkata based farmer who discovered it in his farmland. Additionally, Joshi convinced the victim about the divine revelation he received from God about the mystery box which was meant to carry with it big fortune and immense good luck. Reportedly, the accused told the victim that the fortune box was on offer for Rs 4 crore when in actuality it’s worth was close to Rs 22 crore.
The complainant, in grief, informed the DCP (Crime) and PRO Dimapur that it was in 2019 via her friend that she got introduced to the Reverend for some assistance in Church and an acquaintance between the accused and the victim was built.
According to the DCP (Crime) and PRO Dimapur police, the victim was later introduced to one Manish Awasti, posing as the Managing Director of RM Trading Company, who promised to buy the “Mystery Box” for Rs.22 crore on the condition that the victim made the initial investment in the box by paying Rs. 4 crore. As a result, the victim funnelled Rs. 3.5 crore to multiple scammers’ accounts in a series of bank payments between 2019 and 2020, as directed by the pastor.
Nagaland Post provided further insights where the victim was invited to Kolkata. There, she stayed in a five-star Hotel and fraudsters posing as high-profile businessmen with bodyguards came in SUVs to meet her. The scammers and victim got into two cars and drove to a location near the Bangladesh border to retrieve the purported “Mystery Box” and then returned. The car carrying the victim arrived first at the hotel, and while waiting for the car carrying the consignment, accused pastor Timothy arrived and informed the victim that the police had received the information and were pursuing the car to confiscate the “Mystery Box.” He claimed that although he managed to escape and reach the hotel, the driver carrying the mystery box drove away out of fear of the police.
The victim sensed that she had been scammed, and then returned home. When she tried to contact the accused pastor and his accomplices seeking her money back, they stopped taking her calls.
Subsequently, an FIR was filed, and the East Police Station team investigated the matter using digital communication evidence, tracing the accused’s location to Khantibhita (Darjeeling), where he was caught and brought before Dimapur Court.
According to the authorities, the accused Reverend Timothy exploited his position as a reputable Christian pastor to attract unsuspecting followers into several kinds of scams orchestrated by him. The police said that the preliminary investigation revealed that the “Mystery Box” was nothing but an empty box which was made solely to deceive the victim.
