Pair dupes people of Rs 35 lakh on pretext of getting them benefits of govt schemes; case registered

Representational Image. File Pic

Two persons from a finance company in Maharashtra's Nagpur city allegedly duped people of Rs 35 on the pretext of getting them benefits from government schemes. A case has been registered against the pair with the police, reported PTI on monday.

Based on a complaint lodged by eight women, the police have registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 406 (criminal breach of trust and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, reported PTI citing an official.

The accused, one of them operating a finance company, allegedly recruited the complainants as field executives to visit people's homes to help them fill out forms for government schemes and charged a fee for the service, he said.

The complainants were asked to charge fees ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 9,500, which they then handed over with the forms to the company's manager, the official said.

The firm had collected Rs 35 lakh over five months last year and then suddenly shut the office and ceased the operation without paying the complainants, he said, adding that no arrest has been made in the case.

Earlier this week, in another incident in Maharashtra, a district judge from Maharashtra's Solapur was allegedly duped of Rs 50,000 by an unidentified person who used the photo of a judge from the Bombay High Court as a WhatsApp display picture (DP) to ask for the money, reported PTI citing the police on Saturday.

Based on a complaint lodged by the high court's registrar a first information report (FIR) has been registered by the Mumbai Police under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act, said the PTI report.

As per the complaint, the district judge received a WhatsApp message on Friday from a phone number which had the photograph of a high court judge as the display picture, he said.

The district judge was acquainted with the HC judge, said the PTI report. The sender of the message asked for Rs 50,000, which he claimed he would return at the end of the day, the official said.

Without any further verification, the district judge transferred the sum but got suspicious when he got another message with more demands, he said.

The district judge then contacted the registrar's office at the high court and learnt that the judge whose photo was used had never asked for money, the official said.