KOCHI: A military nurse was arrested on Sunday for allegedly grabbing Rs.15 lakhs from a youth in the name of a fake profile in a matrimonial website. The accused, Smitha, is a nurse holding the position of Lt. Colonel in the military.

According to police, Smitha first contacted the youth using a profile named Shruthi Hariharan in the website. She told her that she is doing MBBS in Kolkata and her family is in Mumbai. After interacting for a few months the youth proposed to her to which she readily agreed. She gave him her number and they both started interacting frequently. The youth even contacted her family and went forward with the marriage plans.

Later, Smitha began borrowing money from the youth in the name of college fees. The youth thus deposited around 15 lakhs in the account of a lady who Smitha addressed as her aunt. Smitha had also sent many photos in her name which seemed genuine for the youth. However, Smitha started avoiding him once the youth started discussing marriage plans. She even went on to say that she is suffering from cancer and refused to meet him directly or through video call. All this created doubts in the mind of the youth who stopped chatting to her and hid the story to avoid shame.

One day, Smitha again contacted using another profile named Niyathi Narayanan and on further chatting the youth realised that it is the same person who cheated him in the name of Shruthi. He immediately filed a complaint to Ernakulam Assistant Commissioner K Lalji. On further investigation, it was found out that Smitha was behind the two accounts and the account to which he paid the amount actually belonged to her. Smitha, who lives in Thiruvananthapuram, was subsequently arrested by Central CI S Vijayshankar and SI Vipindas.