Ramadhar Rajdev Singh, a banana wholeseller from Thane, was allegedly cheated by his friend who siphoned Ramadhar of Rs 12,91,799.

After the implementation of demonetization, the Modi-led government has been particularly emphasizing on digital financial transactions. However, uneducated citizens who are not familiar with the digital payment platforms are often disarrayed due to its technological hassles.

Ramadhar Singh, an uneducated man, trusted his educated neighbour Vishwamitra Singh for doing bank transactions on his behalf.

According to a senior police officer from Kapurbawdi police station, the two were not only neighbours in Thane but also hails from the same village in Uttar Pradesh.

“Whenever Ramadhar had to go to the bank for any work, he would take Vishwamitra along with him. He got Ramadhar an ATM card of his bank account and also downloaded PayTM app on his mobile with his account number linked to it,” the officer added. But, Vishwamitra submitted his mobile number instead of Ramadhar’s.

As a result, transaction alerts were not received by Ramadhar. Vishwamitra, who already knew the password for Ramadhar’s ATM and PayTm, diverted the funds from March 2017 to October 2017.

When Ramadhar went to the bank to withdraw money this week, he realised that the huge sum of money was missing. Vishwamitra is on the flee and the police are trying to locate him.