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Ludhiana trader booked for duping three Afghan firms of ₹7.18 crore
Ludhiana police have booked Bhagatpreet Singh, a resident of Guru Harkrishan Road in Khanna; the FIR has been lodged on the complaint of Danish Irfan Agha of Navi Mumbai, who is the caretaker of the three Afghanistan dry fruit supplier firms.
The Sarabha Nagar police booked a trader from Ludhiana for allegedly duping three Afghanistan-based dry fruit trading firms of ₹7.18 crore.
Police said that the accused imported dry fruits from Afghanistan, but did not make payment. The accused, however, produced a fake receipt of the payment and claimed that he had cleared all his dues.
The accused had imported dry fruits from these firms between July 19, 2023 and November 6, 2023.
The police have booked Bhagatpreet Singh, a resident of Guru Harkrishan Road in Khanna. The FIR has been lodged on the complaint of Danish Irfan Agha of Navi Mumbai, who is the caretaker of the three Afghanistan dry fruit supplier firms.
Agha stated that he came in contact with Bhagatpreet in June 2023 through an agent of the Attari border. He along with the president of a dry fruit firm had a meeting with Bhagatpreet in Sarabha Nagar. Bhagatpreet booked an order of the dry fruits worth ₹5 crore. It was decided that the payment would be made in three days after the delivery. The dry fruits were delivered to the accused against which he had made the payment of ₹5 crore.
The accused won their confidence and later made more orders for the dry fruits, ahead of the Diwali festival.
Agha added that thereafter, Bhagatpreet got the delivery of the orders of dry fruits by the three firms. The cost of the entire imported dry fruits was ₹7.18 crore.
The complainant said that as it was decided, the accused was supposed to pay the money in three days after the delivery. However, he delayed the payment by saying that the dry fruits were not sold yet and will pay the money only after selling it.
However, later the accused stopped responding to their calls.
Meanwhile, the victims contacted Bhagatpreet and asked for their money after which the accused shared an online payment receipt of Axis Bank, Gobindgarh and claimed that he made a payment. However, when the victims approached the bank as they had not received the payment, they found the receipt was fake. Thereafter, on January 24, they filed a police complaint with the Ludhiana police.
ASI Rajesh Kumar, who is investigating the case, said that a case under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable, security, will etc,) 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC has been filed.
The ASI added that the accused had produced SWIFT (Society for WorldWide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) Message MT 103 – which is a kind payment receipt used to make payment internationally and had claimed that he already paid money to the complainants. The document appeared genuine, but it was forged. The accused used the document of previous payment made by him and tempered the amount and dates on it, he said.
ASI added that Bhagatpreet has the letter of credit and has been in the business of import and export. The probe found that initially Bhagatpreet won the confidence of the company by making the payment of the initial order, but later he ordered in bulk and did not pay them for it. The accused is yet to be arrested.
