E-Paper
Ludhiana NGO owner duped of ₹6 lakh on pretext of conducting govt survey
Contacted agency offering ₹100 per household to conduct a toilet survey after seeing an online advertisement, but the agency stopped taking his calls after payment of ₹6 lakh
Lure of carrying out a household toilet survey across the city, in exchange for ₹100 per house, has cost an NGO owner dear.
The victim, Chandar Bhanot of Shimlapuri, has complained that he was duped of ₹6 lakh by some persons claiming to get him the survey from the central government under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Following a probe, police have identified five of the accused as Poonam Gupta, Ashwani Kumar, Mukesh Kumar, Sayeed and Shweta, all natives of Uttar Pradesh.
According to Bhanot, in 2019 he saw an online advertisement looking for an NGO to conduct a household toilet survey for the central government.
When he contacted the given phone numbers, a man named Mukesh claimed that their agency represented different departments of the government that wished to conduct a survey in Ludhiana regarding household toilet coverage under the Swachh Bharat Mission.
Mukesh claimed that the chosen NGO will be paid ₹100 for every household checked under the survey against an initial payment of ₹6 lakh.
Bhanot said he made the payment through cash and online transfer on July 1, 2019. However, thereon the agency stopped responding to his calls.
Therefore, he visited the agency’s office in Noida, only to find an electronics firm operating from there that had no association with any government agency.
Realising he was duped, he filed a police complaint and an inquiry was marked.
Sub-inspector Balwinder Singh, station house officer (SHO), Sahnewal police station, said they had lodged an FIR under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code following an investigation. They had leads about the accused, who will be arrested soon, he added.
