‘RBI officials’ dupe 78-year-old of Rs 20 lakh

NEW DELHI: When 78-year-old retired government official Chandra Prakash Khera got a call from an “RBI officer” saying he could earn huge dividends on his

LIC

policy, he had little idea that his post-retirement savings were going to be siphoned off by crooks.

The

conmen

enticed him into depositing a staggering Rs 20 lakh, which he had saved over the years, in different bank accounts. Khera had become the latest victim of the massive scam of fake call centres cropping up in the national capital region.

The septuagenarian got suspicious only after the crooks began pestering him into depositing more money to claim the bonus of Rs 1 crore. Scared, he confided in his daughter who went to Greater Kailash police station and registered an FIR.

The crime branch swung into action after receiving information about the crime. “A special team led by DCP Bhisham Singh started a

probe

to bust this racket of duping senior citizens. Leads were developed and inspector Atul Tyagi was tasked to arrest the accused,” said joint commissioner (crime), Ravindra Yadav.

During investigation, cops found that men posing as LIC officer Rishi Verma, RBI officer Sachin Goel, and income tax officer Subhash Singhal had been in touch with the victim. “They told Khera that he would have to deposit income tax and money clearance charges to claim the dividend that he had earned on his existing policy. The victim then deposited the money into five different bank accounts,” DCP Bhisham Singh said.

Police used electronic surveillance and local intelligence to track down the suspects. After a fortnight, they managed to zero down on their location in Sector 45, Noida and laid a trap. A team led by

ACP

Ishwar Singh arrested the accused on March 23.

The accused, Akshay Kumar (23) and Bhanu Pratap (21), are students and worked in BPOs part-time. The duo has confessed to having duped at least a dozen people of crores through their fake call centre.

Probe is on to identify and arrest other suspects. The bank accounts being operated by the duo have been frozen and the money trail is being established. Police suspect at least a dozen such gangs are active in Delhi and have requested people not to fall for such calls.