BHOPAL: “I am Rauf Khan… R&AW officer assigned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security...and yes, please don’t share my mobile number,” the 45-year-old man said at the outset to his ‘targets’ in Bhopal – who he would eventually dupe and defraud.
The flamboyant
Rauf Khan
(real name not known yet) went on a prowl in Bhopal emptying out the
pockets of car dealers
, hoteliers, small vendors, businessmen and showroom-owners with his tradecraft. Two FIRs have been lodged for alleged fraud against Rauf at Gandhi Nagar and Koh-e-Fiza police stations.
More than a dozen people fell victim to this ‘covert’ operator in the last few months. The ‘inventory’ of victims include a biryani vendor (duped by Rs 48,000), a tailor (Rs 85,000), a photographer (Rs 4 lakh), a furniture dealer (Rs 4 lakh), a businessman (Rs 32 lakh), a metal fabricator (Rs 8 lakh) and many more.
Tailor Irfan Rehman who runs his shop near
Board Office
was one of his victims. He was introduced to Rauf Khan for the first time as “as a senior officer of India’s external
Intelligence
unit (R&AW)” in January 2016 by an acquaintance. Rehman was impressed.
“One day Khan came to my shop and got some cloths stitched. He paid Rs 15,000. He left saying that one more R&AW agent would come to me for stitching cloths, and he would bear his expenses. Later, seven people came to my shop for stitching clothes with his reference. Khan gave me a cheque for Rs 85,000 which got bounced sometime in June 2016. He was never seen or thereafter,” said Rehman.
Next in line was a manager of an Audi showroom at a city mall. Rauf Khan befriended him, took his credit card and spent Rs 1.5 lakhs. “I have taken a personal loan to repay the credit card. He had left me bankrupt,” said the manager, not wanting to be named. He is now paying an
EMI
of Rs 10,000 every month – the price of trusting a “powerful” friend who wanted his card for a few minutes.
Rajkumar Sahu, who runs a furniture shop, got a Rs 4 lakh-voltage shock. “We were impressed by his style. He lured me to deliver furniture worth four lakhs to his rented house. His post-dated cheques were dishonoured,” he said, adding that he had lodged a complaint with the Gandhi Nagar police station.
Similarly, metal fabricator Burahanuddin Mohammad was duped of around Rs 9 lakhs, hotel employee Parikshit Singh and some of his friends of Rs 15 lakhs. A complaint has been lodged with the Koh-e-Fiza police station.
Khan also duped businessman Rituraj Chauhan of Rs 32 lakhs on the pretext of arranging a marriage ceremony at a three-star hotel and getting him an SUV. Manoj Mahajan, the photographer, was duped of Rs 3 lakhs -- Khan had promised him a contract for photography at Raja Bhoj Airport.
Khan also duped the Rama Krishna Hotel where he used to stay. Two hotel employees, unknowingly, became part of his operations. They used to introduce Khan as a “R&AW agent” to their clients, which helped the con expand his network.
Anil Bajpayee, SHO, Koh-e-Fiza thana said complaints were being investigated. The police are, however, clueless about the “secret agent’s” current location.
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