At around 4:30 pm on Thursday, a 17-year-old boy came rushing to the parakram van parked just outside the Delhi Police headquarters at ITO.
He says in a breaking voice that he has been cheated of his money by three men who lured him to ITO from Nizamuddin. "They took my Rs 12,000 which was my three months salary. I am a poor labourer and I will die if I don't get back my money. I just have a ticket to Chitrakoot now and nothing else. They even took my bag," said Sikander, showing his railway ticket.
The teenager was going back home to Chitrakoot from Nizamuddin Railway Station where he bought the ticket. Since there was still time for the train to arrive, he decided to buy some clothes outside.
It was then he met those three men who in a short time developed a friendship with him. "One of them said he was going to the same destination. The trio said that they can get seats on the train if I come along to ITO to meet their contact. I don't know what happened to me and I followed them," said Sikander who works at a brick kiln in Loni.
The four then travelled to ITO and one of them paid the fare to win the boy's confidence. They then asked him to hand over his money to them to keep it safe. "They asked me to wait at a distance but they never came back," said a sobbing Sikander to the police.