E-Paper
Two Haryana men held for duping retired government official of ₹22 lakh in Panchkula
Accused posing as a relative of the Panchkula-based victim called over the phone and said that he had sent him ₹4.5 lakh through online bank transfer and asked him to transfer ₹3 lakh back
Police have arrested two Haryana natives for duping a Panchkula-based retired government official of ₹22 lakh through online fraud.
The accused, Amit Kumar and Tilu Ram, hail from Sonepat and Bhiwani, respectively. ₹8.90 lakh in cash were recovered from Amit’s vehicle, along with 23 cheque books, eight bank passbooks and 83 ATM cards, said police.
The victim, Rajender Kumar Gupta, retired from Haryana Dairy Development Co-Operative Federation Ltd and lives in Sector 17, Panchkula.
He had reported to police that on February 16, a person, claiming to be his relative, called him over the phone and said that he had sent him ₹4.50 lakh through online bank transfer. The caller asked him to transfer ₹3 lakh of this amount to the account of one Akash and keep the rest. The caller also sent him a message showing a transaction of ₹4.50 lakh.
The caller later asked him to transfer ₹7 lakh to another account for the treatment of his friends’ relative in Delhi. Gupta had ended up paying ₹22 lakh before realising that he had been cheated, following which he approached the police.
Subsequently, police had registered a case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at the cyber crime police station in Sector 12, Panchkula.
Tracing the money trail, police zeroed in on a bank account in Bhiwani where ₹50,000 of the total duped amount were transferred. When police contacted the bank account holder, he revealed he had sold it to one Tilu Ram for ₹2,000, leading police to the accused and his accomplice Amit Kumar. Further probe uncovered 15 bank accounts being operated by Amit using forged identities.
