E-Paper
68-year-old man duped of ₹13 lakh on pretext of investment in Ludhiana
In the second such case reported in the city in the past two days, a 68-year-old man was duped of ₹13.7 lakh by several conmen posing as insurance agents.
In the second such case reported in the city in the past two days, a 68-year-old man was duped of ₹13.7 lakh by several conmen posing as insurance agents.
Though the complainant, Jagmohan Singh, of Model Town Extension, lost the money in 2017, he filed a complaint on June 21, 2019.
Jagmohan told the police that he had bought some insurance policies for himself, his wife and their two sons. After the policies started maturing, people, claiming to be from various insurance companies, began calling him to make investments. Some of these people, who introduced themselves as GS Bal, Ashish and Urvashi, sometimes even called him 50 times a day to convince him.
Meanwhile, a man named Peter D’souza, who claimed to be a government official, contacted him, saying he was helping elderly people invest money. He also introduced a woman as his assistant, Priya Chopra, and convinced him to invest, saying it will fetch him perks within one year. Therefore, Jagmohan gave them cheques for ₹13.7 lakh.
However, the complainant received no returns. Realising they had been duped, his wife died of shock on August 8, 2018, Jagmohan said.
After investigating the matter, the Division Number 6 police have registered a case against the accused, GS Bal, Ashish, Urvashi, Peter D’souza and Priya Chopra under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Sub-inspector Malkit Singh, who is investigating the case, said the numbers from where the accused called the complainant were not working anymore. So, these may have been procured using fake IDs.
On Saturday, a similar FIR was registered after a Tagore Nagar resident reported being duped of ₹4 crore, also on the pretext of investments.
Earlier on October 17, police had busted a Delhi-based gang, who, using the same modus operandi, had duped several people of crores.
