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3 booked for cheating 20-yr-old of ₹7.28 lakh on pretext of job offer in Cyprus
Investigators said that the suspects worked on building a bond with Verma’s family in December last year after which they told his mother that her son could work in Cyprus and earn 1800 Euros per month
Gurugram: Three suspects were booked for allegedly cheating a 20-year-old man of ₹7.28 lakh after luring him with a lucrative job offer in Cyprus, police said on Thursday.
The victim identified as Mokshit Verma, a resident of Sector-7, and his mother worked in a jewellery showroom in the city where the suspect, his wife and his brother used to visit frequently.
Investigators said that the suspects worked on building a bond with Verma’s family in December last year after which they told his mother that her son could work in Cyprus and earn 1800 Euros ( ₹1.63 lakh approx) per month.
The suspects convinced Verma’s mother that they had earlier too sent several people abroad and they would need to pay for the visa and other expenditure.
According to the police, the suspects made Verma sign several documents, took his photographs and passport on the pretext of initiating the visa process.
Verma paid the suspects ₹7.28 lakh in two instalments and they handed him a visa, air tickets and other documents for travelling. However, Verma, for queries, reached the Cyprus high commission on December 20 last year when the authorities told him that his documents were fake.
A senior police officer said that Verma contacted the suspects but they threatened him with dire consequences if he approached the police. “The suspects were using three contact numbers of which two were of the United Kingdom,” he said.
“One day, Verma spotted the suspect’s car and followed it to know the location of their home. It was in Krishna Colony, hardly a kilometre away from his house. However, it surfaced that the trio had fled. They had duped several people in Delhi-NCR in a similar manner,” he said.
Sandeep Kumar, Gurugram police public relations officer, said the suspects were served notice multiple times to appear for investigation but they didn’t respond. “Cyprus high commission has confirmed that the visa was forged. We will nab the suspects soon,” he said.
Based on Verma’s complaint, an FIR was registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forging valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code at Gurugram city police station on Wednesday.
