16 May,2011 06:57 AM IST | | Atul Krishan
A girl and her two accomplices cheated victim of several thousand rupees after promising him a loan
They used an elaborate plan only to loot a few thousand rupees. A girl and her two aides cheated a Sadar Bazar-based businessman using a 'magic' pen. Now the victim says he has been running from pillar to post to get an FIR registered, but the police are not paying any heed towards his problem.
Duped: The victim businessman Pramod Gupta. PIC/Imtiyaz Khan
Around a month ago, the victim Pramod Gupta got a call from a girl who introduced herself as Payal, an employee of a private bank. Payal asked him if he needed a loan and Pramod told her that he badly needed a loan of three lakh rupees. Payal told him that she would send two representatives from the bank with some forms that were to be filled up.
Next day two people met Pramod at his office in Sadar Bazar area and took his I-T returns papers, identity proof documents, bank statements and seven cheques. They made him sign on some forms using a pen with invisible ink. The duo then left the victim's office. The next day Pramod got a call from Payal with the information that his loan had been sanctioned but the five cheques he had issued to them had some discrepancy and he would have to issue five more. Pramod agreed. On May 4, Payal returned the previously issued cheques to Pramod and took the five new ones worth Rs 34,158 each.
Credit check
The next day Pramod got a call from Payal who told him that his bank account had insufficient balance and he would have to deposit some cash. Pramod said that he deposited around 40,000 rupees the same day.
On May 5, the accused got Pramod's SIM card blocked as per their plan. Startled, Pramod called up the customer care of his mobile service provider. "I was again surprised to know when customer care official told me that they blocked my SIM after getting a non-cognisable report (NCR) of my cellphone being lost," said Pramod.
He added that on May 6 at around noon his phone was de-activated. Pramod came to know that the NCR of his cellphone was lodged with Karol Bag police station using his identity proof by the accused persons.
By this time Payal and her aides had withdrawn all the cash from Pramod's bank account by furnishing the cheques. Pramod has an account with Citibank's Karol Bagh branch while the cash was withdrawn at the Punjabi Bagh branch of the bank.
Bank call
"Bank officials had called on my cellphone but as the accused had got a SIM issued to them using the NCR, they received the call. Payal told the bank official that she was my wife and the cheques were issued to be encashed as self. After speaking with Payal the cheque was honoured," said Pramod. He said that on May 7 he had got an SMS form the bank about the transactions.
Pramod went to meet bank official in Punjabi Bagh who showed him the cheque and CCTV footage. Pramod asked the official to give him a copy of the footage but he refused to comply and said he could give it only to the police. The bank official said that someone named Ajit had come to withdraw the money.
"Ajit had furnished a copy of his driving license with the bank as his identity proof to encash the cheque. I tried to inquire about his driving license with Mall Road authority and came to know that it was a fake. I approached Bara Hindu Rao police but they refused to lodge an FIR. They asked me to approach Punjabi Bagh police station. I have contacted them but they are not ready to file a case," said the victim. Meanwhile, a senior police official said that the FIR will be lodged at Punjabi Bagh as the money was withdrawn there.
VANISHING Act
MiD DAY had reported on January 24 how Delhi police arrested Pramod Kumar Sharma, 29, Rajbir Singh, 26, and Mandhir Singh, 24 after they received a complaint from a businessman of Palwal. The accused allegedly duped hapless people into parting with their hard-earned money using the inducement of easy loans.
"We received a complaint about the frauds on the 19th of January. The victim, Arif told us that the accused asked for various documents from him. Arif gave them all papers along with two cheques," said a police officer.
One of the accused gave him his own pen and asked the complainant to fill in the amount in the cheques with the same. Arif signed two cheques worth Rs 200 and Rs 450. The culprits assured him that the verification would be completed in a week's time and the loan would be approved after that.
"The cheats checked Arif's bank statement and withdrew amounts of Rs 98000 and Rs 7000 from his bank using the same cheques which were given to them by Arif," said the officer.
