Gurugram duo dupes 35 by offering fake contracts, falls in police net

The accused would introduce themselves as contractors working for a city-based private automobile manufacturer/ a finance firm or as district level officials in Manesar.

Two men have been arrested for allegedly duping at least 35 people in the National Capital Region (NCR) by offering to hire their services for events and giving them fake contracts. Police said the duo targeted tent house owners and event management firms by offering to hire their services for big events and charging a 5-10% commission fee in advance.

The accused were arrested from Sirhaul toll. (Yogendra Kumar/HT PHOTO)

The accused would introduce themselves as contractors working for a city-based private automobile manufacturer/ a finance firm or as district level officials in Manesar. After getting in touch with a potential caterer, they would offer a fake contract and a cheque, which would later bounce. The men would dupe people by asking for a commission in cash upfront and later flee with the money.

A crime branch team arrested the accused, Vijay Kumar Jha from Bihar’s Darbhanga and Kuldeep Singh of Amritsar, on June 14 from Sirhaul toll, police said.

Muhammad Akil, commissioner of police, said the accused had several fake visiting cards which mentioned their employment as officer on special duty to the director of an automobile company, as an assistant engineer in Manesar Industrial Area or as an official of a public broadcasting agency. The visiting cards had photos of the accused men with fake names.

Akil said the fraud was reported after a Delhi-based tent decorator/caterer filed a complaint at Manesar police station on June 13, alleging that he had been duped. In the police complaint, he said that he met Jha who called him for a meeting at a restaurant in Manesar in February last year. At the meeting, Jha introduced the victim to his aide Kuldeep Singh, who claimed to be a senior official of an automobile company.

Police said the accused men took his firm’s contract letter and gave him a cheque of ₹39,39,750 and asked for a commission of ₹2 lakh for the order. The victim paid ₹1.75 lakh commission. In March 2018, he met the duo at the same restaurant where he was given a fake contract letter.

The victim said that bank officials refused to clear the cheque. The victim said that he could not contact the accused men as they had switched off their phones.

During questioning, the accused men confessed to duping at least 35 such people, majority of them tent house companies and event management firms, police said. Police recovered four fake cheques issued to several caterers whose amount ranged between ₹39 lakh and ₹84 lakh.

The accused were produced in a district court on June 15 and sent to police custody for six days, said police.