Panchkula crockery store owner duped of ₹3.25 lakh on pretext of fake distributorship

Police said the accused allegedly asked the complainant to pay ₹25,000 as registration cost and lured him with a deal of 40% discount on MRP of Patanjali products

Police booked two persons for allegedly duping a shopkeeper of ₹3.25 lakh on the pretext of fake distributorship, on Thursday.

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The accused have been identified as Sunil Gupta and Rakesh Sharma.

Complainant Raj Kumar Jindal, owner of a crockery store in Sector 10, told police that as he was not making any profit from his business amid the Covid-19 lockdown, he decided to sell Patanjali products.

Jindal said he came in contact with Gupta, who explained the process of distributing Patanjali products to him.

Police said Gupta allegedly asked the complainant to pay ₹25,000 as registration cost and lured him with a deal of 40% discount on maximum retail price.

Police added that Jindal agreed to the deal, paid him ₹25,000, and shared documents including Aadhar card, PAN card, bank passbook and cancelled cheque.

The complainant then placed an order, and paid ₹3 lakh, 50% of the total amount, in advance on May 18.

Later, the complainant was told he needs to pay the full amount, as per new policy, by the other accused, Rakesh Sharma.

This made Jindal suspicious and he asked the accused to refund his money, but to no avail, police said.

Following this, he filed a complaint and a case was registered under Section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Sector 5 police station.