Nigerian footballer offered ‘club’ contract, duped of Rs 90k

A young Nigerian footballer hoping to play for an Indian club was duped by a group—involving an Indian and a Nigerian—who approached him with the promise of a contract at a football club in India. One of them was arrested when he came to collect the money from the footballer.

The victim, identified as 17-year-old Adegbola Ayomide Idowu, was approached by Samuel Lewis in his home country who posed as an agent of a fictitious Indian club, ‘Nivea Heroes’, based ostensibly out of Delhi. He was offered a yearly contract of Rs 1 lakh and told that all his needs in India would be looked after by a person identified as Danish Parvez, secretary of the said football club.

Idowu trusted the agent who assured him that Parvez had successfully placed many Nigerian footballers in renowned football clubs of India and was made to pay US $1,500 (Rs 90,000) for arranging a visa and a contract..

The victim, identified as 17-year-old Adegbola Ayomide Idowu, was approached by Samuel Lewis in his home country who posed as an agent of a fictitious Indian club, ‘Nivea Heroes’, based ostensibly out of Delhi. He was offered a yearly contract of Rs 1 lakh and told that all his needs in India would be looked after by a person identified as Danish Parvez, secretary of the said football club.

Idowu trusted the agent who assured him that Parvez had successfully placed many Nigerian footballers in renowned football clubs of India and was made to pay US $1,500 (Rs 90,000) for arranging a visa and a contract.

When Idowu reached Delhi, he found no one had come at the airport to receive him as promised. He tried calling Parvez on his number but found it did not exist. “I had to sleep on pavements and at the stadium for a few days as I had run out of money,” said Idowu in the FIR. A few days later, he was able to get an Indian mobile number using a few contacts he had made in Delhi. He also sought help from the Nigerian embassy. The Nigerian embassy directed Idowu to lodge a complaint at Chanakyapuri police station.

Idowu managed to get in touch with Parvez on an alternate number and baited him by saying that there were two more Nigerian footballers who were eager to come to India. He also said that he needed an extension of his visa. Parvez asked for a sum of Rs 1 lakh to issue the new contracts and Rs 20,000 to renew his visa, and asked him to come to the Tilak Nagar Metro station with the money. He was arrested, booked for cheating and taken into custody for interrogation.

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