Man poses as HC judge driver, dupes 8 of Rs 80L

Mohali: A Ropar resident has allegedly duped eight persons of Rs 80 lakh by posing as a driver of a Punjab and Haryana high court

judge

, prompting the police to register a case against him on Wednesday.

Sources said Gurdip Singh took money from the eight victims, all residents of Salempur Khurd, after promising to get them hired as drivers in the high court.

One of the victims alleged Gurdip Singh is a relative of Avtar Singh, the sarpanch of Salempur Khurd. The victim had met the accused in 2017. After a few more meetings, the victim asked the accused to help get seven other youths jobs too.

The accused told the victims that there were eight posts of drivers which would be filled soon. He said his “boss, a high court judge, was a member of the selection committee and will hold a big role in getting them selected”.

On winning their confidence, the accused demanded Rs 3 lakh to be paid as initial amount in instalments. The victims, including Harjinder Singh, Pardeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Rohit Verma, Manprit, Satwinder Singh, Jamandeep Singh and Satnam, paid Rs 50,000 each to Gurdip Singh. The victim alleged the deal took place at Avtar Singh’s residence, where all the eight persons also handed over documents to Gurdip.

After a few days, Gurdip again called up the victims and asked them to pay Rs 2 lakh each. The accused told them that the amount was needed to arrange a person to write their examination paper. A sum of Rs 25,000 per person was his own expenses.

After paying the amount, each of the victims received a call from an unknown number. The woman on the phone line told the victims that their jobs had been confirmed and they must deposit the remaining money at the earliest. The victims complied, but did not receive any confirmation letter and later found that there were no such vacancy.

When the victims reached the house of the accused in Ropar, he was not found there. With no help, the victims finally filed a written complaint with the police a few months ago. Investigating officer Sukh Chain Singh said, “The FIR (first information report) has been registered under Sections 406 (punishment for criminal breach of trust) and 420 (fraud). Teams have be sent to catch the accused.”

Modus operandi

Gurdip Singh lured eight villagers of Salempur Khurd into paying Rs 10 lakh each in return of getting them employed as drivers in the high court

The accused claimed his boss is a member of the selection committee and will hold a big role in getting them selected

He first demanded Rs 3 lakh in instalments, then asked them to pay Rs 2 lakh each

He said the money was also needed to arrange a person to write their examination papers

The victims received a call from an unknown number, informing that their jobs had been confirmed and they must deposit the remaining money

One of the victims claimed that the accused was a relative of sarpanch of Salempur Khurd village

Police have registered a cheating case against the accused