Three persons were arrested on Tuesday night for allegedly posing as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials and duping a senior citizen to the tune of ₹6 lakh on the pretext of renewing his insurance policy, the police said here on Wednesday.
The accused have been identified as Brajesh Kumar (26), Awadhesh Kumar (31), and Praveen Kumar(30), the police said, adding that they were arrested from Khoda.
Gautam Budh Nagar Senior Superintendent of Police Ajay Pal Sharma said that the victim, identified as 70-year-old Robin Majumdar, is a retired NTPC official. He lives in Noida Sector 62.
“Mr. Majumdar had contacted the Noida Police Cyber Cell alleging that some persons, identifying themselves as RBI officials, had called him and said that his insurance policy had lapsed and needed to be renewed,” Mr. Sharma said. He also said that the accused allegedly told Mr. Majumdar that to ensure the safety of his hard-earned money and gain an additional ₹2 lakh, he would have to remit ₹6 lakh.
“The accused had asked Mr. Majumdar to deposit the money in a private bank account in three to four instalments,” Mr. Sharma said, adding that when Mr. Majumdar tried to contact the accused in May, to check the status of his policy, nobody received his call.
Mr. Majumdar smelled foul play and approached the police. Acting on his complaint, the Cyber Cell registered an FIR and started an investigation.
Repeat offenders
During sustained interrogation, accused Brajesh, who belongs to Kannauj, said he used to work with a placement agency in Noida that shut down last year. Awadhesh was Brajesh’s colleague, while Praveen was Awadhesh’s acquaintance. After the agency shut down, a mobile phone and a SIM card, which belonged to the company, remained with Brajesh. The three used the data collected by the agency to call up random people with the same insurance policy plot and dupe them.
Mr. Sharma said the accused are habitual offenders. They used to call up people and tell them that their insurance policy had lapsed. They would them ask them to pay some amount to get it renewed and also assure them of doubling the money.
The police said Brajesh is a Science graduate from Kanpur University, while Praveen did his Masters in Zoology from Deshbandhu College under the Delhi University. Awadhesh had dropped out of school after Class X. Praveen, who hails from Mainpuri, lives in Noida Sector 19, while Awadhesh stays in Sector 63.
After duping people, the accused used to distribute the money among themselves. Brajesh would keep half of the amount, while Awadhesh would get 30%, and Praveen ended up getting the remaining amount, the police said.
The police have frozen Praveen’s bank account, which had ₹3 lakh of the duped amount. A search is on to recover the remaining money. The mobile phone and SIM card used by them have also been seized, the police said.
A case has been registered at Sector 58 police station under IPC Section 420 for cheating and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act for online fraud against the accused.
