Amritsar woman dupes parents of Rs 17 lakh, flees with fiance

A 23-year-old woman, who became friends with a Gurdaspur-based man through Facebook and got engaged with him, fraudulently transferred Rs 17 lakh from her parents’ bank account and fled with her fiance, police said on Wednesday.

Kamalpreet Kaur (23), daughter of Ramesh Kumar and a resident of Majitha Road, got the money fraudulently transferred into the bank account of her fiance Karan, alias Kannu, and also stole four-tola gold jewellery set from her parents’ house.

A complaint was lodged at Sadar police station by Sonia, wife of Ramesh Kumar. In her complaint, Sonia said, “My daughter Kamalpreet became friends with Karan, a resident of Gurdaspur, through Facebook. Due to my daughter’s insistence, we got her engaged with Karan on October 9. After the engagement, Karan, along with his mother Manjeet Kaur, father Kala Masih, sister Sonu and cousin Joban used to visit our house.”

“Kamalpreet gave my ATM card and its password to her fiance and handed me another ATM card which looked similar to that of mine. Karan then transferred Rs 17 lakh into his account. Kamalpreet also stole a gold jewellery set (4 tolas) and fled our house on December 11. We immediately lodged a complaint with the police,” Sonia said.

Sadar police station SHO Prem Kumar said, “On Wednesday, we arrested Karan, his father Kala Masih, mother Manjeet Kaur, sister Sonu and cousin Joban against whom the girl’s mother had filed the complaint. They were booked under Sections 380 (theft), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the relevant sections of the IT Act.”

The SHO added that the parents of Kamalpreet had denied giving money to Karan’s family in the form of dowry, so the duo conspired to transfer the money fraudulently.

He said the accused were produced in a local court, which remanded Karan in three-day police custody and the other four accused in 15-day judicial custody.

However, Kamalpreet is still on the run, he said. “Efforts are on to arrest her.”