Noida: Woman duped of ₹1.8 crore on pretext of investment in car rental company, 2 held

Two persons were arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping a 36-year-old woman of around ₹1

Two persons were arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping a 36-year-old woman of around ₹1.80 crore on the pretext of making an investment in a car rental company for which they promised her high returns. Police said that the suspects and the complainant lived in the same society in Greater Noida.

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The suspects were identified as Deepak Chaudhury, 32, and his business partner Vipin Tomar, 30, residents of Stellar MI Cityhomes. Both are natives of Baraut in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

According to police, on Friday, Ritu Chaudhury, who runs a boutique, filed a complaint at Phase 3 police station alleging that Deepak and his five family members cheated her on pretext of investment in a car rental service.

In her complaint, Ritu stated that Deepak’s mother Pushpa first befriended her and then introduced her to Deepak and his wife Ruhi. “In September 2020, she (Pushpa) informed me that Deepak has got a contract of providing 100 cars on rent to government offices in Uttar Pradesh. She also said that another contract of providing 400 cars will be granted soon,” she said.

Ritu’s husband Nitin Kumar said that later his wife was introduced to SK Malik, Deepak’s father-in-law, who is said to be a senior officer in the department of animal husbandry. “Malik convinced us that the contract was genuine and we should invest,” he said.

Ankur Agarwal, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida Central, said that Deepak told Ritu to invest in the car rental company and promised assured returns. “Deepak demanded ₹3 lakh for each car and promised the ₹25,000 monthly return. He also floated a fictitious car rental company -- Car Yatra Services -- in Noida Sector 63 and made Tomar his partner,” Agarwal said.

According to police, the complainant initially invested ₹12 lakh and also got returns for a few months. Later, the suspects told her they have got a contract to rent cars for economic offence wing of the Meerut police and needed money else they will lose the contract. Police investigations showed that the government had not given any such contract to the company.

The complainant claimed that she and some of her relatives invested a total of ₹2 crore and got ₹23 lakh as return from September 2020 to March 2021.

However, the suspects locked their flat and left the society in April, police said, adding that when the complainant contacted them over phone recently, they refused to return the rest of the amount. She then approached police and filed a complaint.

A case was registered against Deepak, his wife Ruhi, mother Pushpa, father-in-law SK Malik, cousin Vasu, and a person named Komal under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forgery), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC.

The additional DCP said that Tomar was arrested because he was a partner in the company. “We are investigating the roles of other suspects. We have seized a Tata Harrier and an i-Phone from their possession,” he said.

Despite repeated attempts, Pushpa could not be contacted for a comment.

Police said the suspects had cheated around 100 people in this way. The two suspects were produced in court that sent them to judicial custody.