Mundi Kharar man held for duping Chandigarh resident of ₹1.53 crore

The accused, Vipul Soni of Mundi Kahrar, had first called up the victim in 2014, posing as someone else and asked him to deposit money towards maturing investment policies

Police on Saturday arrested a Mundi Kharar resident for allegedly duping a Sector 34-C resident of ₹1.53 crores between 2014 and 2020.

Chandigarh police arrested a man from Mundi Kharar for duping a city resident of ₹1.53 crores. (HT File)

The accused, Vipul Soni, 28, had first called up the victim, Sadhu Singh of Sector 34-C, in 2014, posing as someone else and asked him to deposit money towards maturing investment policies. The victim later deposited ₹1.53 crore in the bank accounts of Adventure mart India, FRDI, Sunshine Services, Shatakshi Services, Standard services, CV Services and Indian Club, multiple times between 2014 to 2020, after being told that the entire investment would fall through if he stops transferring money.

Realising that he had been duped, Singh submitted a complaint to the police in 2020. The cyber cell was able to identify the accused Vipul Soni, who was arrested, presented before court and sent to a four-day police remand.

Talking about the modus operandi of the accused, Police said he was targeting people all over the country, focusing on senior citizens who will be interested in the maturing of their insurance policies. He would also get them to pay more by saying their investment would turn to zero if they do not transfer more funds immediately. Police are trying to uncover his involvement in other such cases.

Officials privy to the case said the accused was one of the account holders to whom the money was sent, but that the fraud was being orchestrated someone else.