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Two held for duping elderly shopkeepers of ₹6 lakh
The accused had offered the shopkeepers an exchange rate of $20 for ₹400, almost ₹1,100 less than the actual rate.
The police have arrested two persons from Phase 11 in Mohali for allegedly duping some elderly shopkeepers on the pretext of exchanging Indian currency with US dollars.
The accused were identified as Vijay, 30, of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh, and Lalchand Ali, 25, of Assam. Police have recovered ₹43,000 in cash and 26 bills of 20 US dollars, along with some gold items.
As per police, the accused duped Gurnam Singh, 60, a shopkeeper of Sohana and Rajesh Kumar, 55, another shopkeeper of Phase 3, of ₹3.5 lakh and ₹2.5 lakh respectively on the pretext of exchanging the amount with US dollar notes.
The suspects had offered the shopkeepers an exchange rate of $20 for ₹400, almost ₹1,100 less than the actual rate.
After the elderly traders handed over the money, Vijay and Ali gave them a polythene covered with newspaper, and assured the victims that the dollars were in the bag. When the victims opened the bag, they found only pieces of newspapers inside it.
Phase-11 station house officer Jagdeep Singh said, “We received a tip-off that the accused were all set to commit a similar type of crime, following which we nabbed them from Sector 66 here. They used to target mainly elderly shopkeepers after winning their faith.”
A case was registered. The accused were produced in a local court on Friday, and sent to three-day police custody.
