Fond of luxury cars, a 50-year-old man was arrested by the Delhi Police for cheating innocents of Rs3,51,70,000 cash (Rs3 crore Rs51 lakh Rs70 thousand) on the pretext of helping them deposit old currency notes in the denominations of Rs500 and Rs1,000.
The accused has been identified as Pushpendra Khari, a resident of Rampura under the jurisdiction of Keshavpuram police station.
Police said they are probing how many people has the accused cheated in the past. Sleuths are also probing the role of the middlemen who arranged the meeting of unsuspecting people with the 50-year-old accused.
Police said on November 22, Keshavpuram police received a complaint from a Gurgaon based businessman Kapil Mehta that he met one Khari through a group of common friends identified as Krishan Prakash, Neeraj Garg, Manzar Alam, Hemant Mishra and Subhash Singha on November 18. However, Khari conned the businessman of Rs2 crore.
“Mehta’s father had expired recently. The Mehtas were surprised to find that their father had left behind Rs2 crore in a box. Mehta wanted to deposit the demonetised with the new one and he came into the contact of Khari,” a police official said.
The officer said, “Claiming to help Mehta in depositing Rs2 crore at a Punjab National Bank in Trinagar area of North-west Delhi, Khari took the cash amount on the promise of depositing it by opening a account in Punjab National Bank at Trinagar.
“To win Mehta’s confidence, Khari called Mehta to his office at Netaji Subhash Place. On the pretext of depositing the money at the PNB, Khari left in his i20 car. When Mehta called Khari on his phone, it was found to be switched off. Thinking that he has been duped, Mehta lodged a complaint with the local police,” he added.
According to Milind Dumbere, Deputy Commissioner of Police, based on technical surveillance and local intelligence, the police team received information that Khari would come near Pearl Height Tower at Netaji Subhash Place in connection with exchanging of the cheated money. Based on this information, the team laid a trap and overpowered him near the parking area of the tower.
“On November 29, Khari came to the NSP to buy large consignment of textiles from a client. He wanted to get rid of the old currency so he came near his office and we caught him,” said the DCP.
During initial interrogation, Khari confessed to having duped the complainant of money on the pretext of depositing it in the PNB. He disclosed that the money had been kept at different locations in Gurgaon, Dwarka and lodhi Colony Delhi.