G Noida: Man arrested for duping people on pretext of arranging loans

Greater Noida: A 25-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of facilitating bank loans for them. The

Greater Noida: A 25-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly duping people of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of facilitating bank loans for them. The police have recovered a stolen motorcycle, five mobile phones, ₹52,000 in cash, seven debit cards, one laptop, and four stamps from his possession.

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According to the police, the suspect, identified as Ashok Kumar of Mathura, was arrested in the Knowledge Park area of Greater Noida. Kumar allegedly cheated nearly 200 people of about ₹10 lakh in the past four months, the police said.

Vishal Pandey, additional deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida, said that the suspect was wanted in five criminal cases registered in Greater Noida.

“On Saturday, police received information about suspect’s movement near Kaushalya roundabout in Knowledge Park. A team was deployed at the spot. The suspect reached the spot on a motorcycle. The police team stopped him for checking and he failed to produce the registration certificate of the vehicle,” he said.

It was found that Kumar was using a stolen motorcycle, the police said, adding that the team scanned his bag and found five stolen mobile phones, seven debit cards, one laptop and other stolen items from his possession.

During interrogation, the suspect told the police that he used to get customers’ mobile phone numbers and other details through online mediums. “He used to call the person and pretend as a bank representative to facilitate loans. Once the customer was convinced, he used to get identity cards and photos on WhatsApp. The customers were then trapped to pay service charge, processing fee, etc. Once the money was transferred, the suspect used to block the customer’s number,” Pandey said.

To gain customers’ confidence, the suspect used to print fake documents with stamps and sent them to customers. During interrogation, Kumar revealed that an accomplice Maju Chauhan worked with him in this loan racket.

“A case has been registered against Kumar under Section 420 (cheating) of IPC and Section 66 of IT Act. He was produced in court and sent to judicial custody. We have launched a search to arrest Chauhan,” Pandey said.