Karnal: GRP arrests three for ₹1.90 crore fraud

A police spokesperson said that the GRP team arrested Pankaj Kumar Lal, along with two associates, Kaushal and Rajnish from Samastipur district of Bihar

In a joint operation with the Bihar Special Task Force (STF), the Government Railway Police (GRP) busted an inter-state gang involved in a major fraud case amounting to ₹1.90 crore.

Following the arrests, a large amount of illegal assets was recovered from their residence in Ajnaul. (HT File)

A police spokesperson said that the GRP team arrested Pankaj Kumar Lal, along with two associates, Kaushal and Rajnish from Samastipur district of Bihar.

The spokesperson further said that on January 17, a complaint was lodged by Naresh Joshi, a resident of Govindgarh (Punjab), alleging that the accused had cheated him of ₹1.90 crore by luring him with false promises of doubling his money and securing high profits through loans.

“After a day-and-night operation, a team led by inspector Harish Kumar, in-charge of GRP Police Station Ambala, arrested gang leader Pankaj and his two aides on Tuesday night. Accused Kaushal and Rajnish were involved in trapping people in the fraud,” a statement read.

Following the arrests, a large amount of illegal assets was recovered from their residence in Ajnaul, including ₹6,02,000 in cash, gold jewellery worth approximately ₹15–16 lakh, 2 laptops, 2 hard disks, 8 touchscreen mobile phones, 10 keypad phones, and a luxury Innova car.

A GRP official said that preliminary investigation revealed that the main accused, Pankaj Kumar, had started constructing a luxurious house worth around ₹1 crore in the Ajnaul area of Dalsinghsarai using money from fraud.

“The accused was also found to be associated with the supply of “Rail Neer” water and the operation of a rickshaw agency in Kalyanpur under Vibhutipur Police Station area of Bihar,” he added.