Delhi: Two held for duping after posing as employees of a food joint

New Delhi: Two alleged cheats belonging to a Mewat-based gang have been arrested after nearly a 1,000 kilometres chase across various states for allegedly duping people in the name of delivering food items and liquor, police said on Friday

New Delhi: Two alleged cheats belonging to a Mewat-based gang have been arrested after nearly a 1,000 kilometres chase across various states for allegedly duping people in the name of delivering food items and liquor, police said on Friday. The arrested men had uploaded mobile numbers on Internet, impersonating themselves the employees of a food joint in Delhi, and gave lucrative officers on home delivery of food. They duped over 100 persons by promising home delivery of alcohol during the lockdown in Pune and Bengaluru, the police said.

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“The arrested men had cheated a government official of ₹82,500 in the name of delivering food packets that were ordered for a farewell organised at the government office,” said deputy commissioner of police (north) Anto Alphonse, adding that four mobile phones, 28 SIM cards and Brezza car purchased using cheated money were seized from the arrested men.

DCP Alphonse said that the government official had filed a complaint in July regarding the cheating. The complainant alleged that food packets were needed for the retirement program in the office and the contact number of a shop was found on the internet. The person who received the call introduced himself as an employee of the food joint and sent a bar code to the complainant for making the advance payment for the order.

“As the complainant scanned the bar code, ₹82,500 were deducted from the bank account in four transactions. However, the food packets were not delivered. A case was registered and investigation was taken up,” the DCP said.

Through technical investigation, the police learnt that the money was transferred into bank accounts in Mewat through a UPI ID. Also, a fake mobile number of Odisha was used in the office and its location was in Haryana’s Mewat, Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Khamman in Telangana. The phone number was uploaded on different websites for home delivery of liquor in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

“We kept the mobile number on surveillance and found that the suspects were travelling towards Uttar Pradesh from Madhya Pradesh. Our cyber cell team followed the trail and after travelling around 1,000 kilometres, the two suspects, identified as Tarif Khan and Taufiq, were arrested from near Agra in Uttar Pradesh,” added DCP Alphonse.