Gang of five cheated elderly by replacing real notes with fake ones

New Delhi: Once they found unsuspecting senior citizens who came to banks to deposit large sums of money, this gang of five would approach them, strike up a conversation and offer to help count the bundle of notes and fill the deposit form.

However, the accused would slyly replace the bundle of notes with another filled with fake notes and escape unnoticed.

On Wednesday, the Delhi Police Crime Branch said it arrested the five cheats, who have been identified as Praveen alias Langda, Anil, Amit, Ramchandra and Jitender Kumar.

Cops added that the accused, all residents of Rohini, have several cases registered against them in Haryana's Panipat as well.

"Praveen was the mastermind of the gang and claimed he used to hypnotise people. He would strike up a conversation with people and persuade them into handing over their bundle of money, which he then exchanged with fake currency and a bunch of paper cuttings to make it look like the original," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Joy Tirkey.

Police said that nine criminal cases were found to have been registered against the gang, while Praveen alone has 12 against him at various Delhi police stations.

During interrogation, the accused admitted to involvement in various cases of cheating in Delhi and Haryana. They had earlier been captured CCTV camera in a case in Panipat, where they cheated a person of Rs two lakh after cheating him with Rs four lakh in fake notes.

Explaining the modus operandi, cops said the gang targetted uneducated people at banks. While one of the gang members would offer to fill the deposit slip and count the money of the victim, another would replace the real notes with fake notes.

Panipat Police have taken the accused for interrogation, after they were arrested by Delhi Police.