Youth arrested from Ghaziabad for cheating senior citizens

One person has been arrested by Delhi Police for duping various people across the Delhi-NCR region on the pretext of offering huge dividends on their existing insurance policies, police said on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Atul Sharma (23), was arrested after a tip-off informing that he would be present at Khoda Colony in Ghaziabad. He was arrested immediately upon identification.

The accused Sharma had allegedly opened many bank accounts where he deposited the money swindled from the victims and would also withdraw the money from ATMs.

The case came to light when, a senior citizen, Saran Dass Sharma, reported that he had been duped of Rs 8.50 lakh, by the accused.

According to his complaint, in July he was contacted by one of the co-accused, Narender Singh Pal, who impersonated himself as the Zonal Head of IMGSN, Hyderabad. 

Pal apparently told Das Sharma that he will get Rs 42 lakh on his existing Birla Life insurance policy. He was asked to deposit some service charge in different bank accounts.

“Das deposited Rs 16,000 and Rs 49,000 in a Punjab National Bank account. 

Once he did that, Narender and Atul would regularly call him and ask him to deposit money for various service charges. The complainant was completely in the grip of the accused and deposited Rs 8 lakh after which he grew suspicious and reported the matter,” said Joint Commissioner of Police, (Crime Branch), Ravindra Yadav.

After the accused were arrested, it was found that Atul along with his associate, Narender and Tarun Sharma, conspired to cheat several people on the pretext of providing huge bonuses on their existing insurance policies.

All the bank accounts – in which the various amounts were transferred by the elderly victims – were opened on fake identities.

SIM Cards of mobile phones were also procured on fake identities for the purpose of cheating, police said.

Atul, a resident of Agra, used to work at a call centre in Noida, where he worked as a telecaller and learnt about the intricacies of the trade. He used this experience to dupe several people across Delhi.

“The details of other victims are being compiled on the basis of the statement of the accused and CDR analysis. The other accused, Tarun Sharma, is still at large and efforts are on to trace his whereabouts,” Yadav added.