E-Paper
Ludhiana: Bizman loses ₹50 lakh to fraudsters
The complainant, Sanjeev Jain, a 62-year-old resident of Atam Nagar, in his complaint said that he belonged to the Jain community and had actively participated in religious events organised by their community for many years
A city-based industrialist fell victim to fraud when miscreants posing as a renowned businessman duped him of ₹50 lakh.
The complainant, Sanjeev Jain, a 62-year-old resident of Atam Nagar, in his complaint said that he belonged to the Jain community and had actively participated in religious events organised by their community for many years.
Jain said that the accused posed as Prakash Rasiklal Dhariwal of Pune, who also heads an organisation of the Jain community.
He mentioned that he had met Dhariwal on several occasions during such events and they were acquainted to each other.
According to Jain, on February 7, he received a call from an unknown number where the imposter convincingly impersonated Dhariwal. The caller spoke in Hindi with a Marwari accent, just like Dhariwal, and discussed religious activities before revealing that he had managed to collect ₹2 crore from Ludhiana for temple construction.
Claiming that he would be sending ₹2 crore in cash to Jain, the imposter requested him to arrange an equivalent amount in Pune or Delhi. Initially hesitant due to the large sum of money involved, Jain said he agreed under the pressure of religious obligations. The imposter assured Jain that his nephew, Vivek Jain, would personally deliver the cash.
“On February 8, I received a call from another unknown number, claiming to be Vivek Jain. He mentioned that he would arrive by 1 pm with the cash. I informed him that I could only manage ₹50 lakh at the moment, which I planned to hand over in Delhi by 1:30 pm,” Jain said.
As the day progressed, Vivek kept making excuses about his delay, while the imposter Dhariwal called Jain to inform him that prominent members of their organisation from Delhi had already collected the cash. The fake Dhariwal insisted that Jain allow them to retrieve the money or he would face severe consequences. Subsequently, the fraudsters collected the cash from Delhi, while Vivek remained in contact with Jain, assuring him of his imminent arrival. However, after 4 PM, both fake Dhariwal and Vivek Jain’s contacts became unreachable.
Jain then contacted Dhariwal through a common link in Pune, only to discover that Dhariwal had neither made any calls nor asked anyone to collect the money on his behalf.
Inspector Danishveer Singh, SHO at Model Town police station, said a case under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC has been filed. Besides, the cyber experts suspect that voice cloning might be used to dupe Sanjeev Jain of his money.
