A 21-year-old BTech student was arrested from Punjab for allegedly duping 47 people on the pretext of providing ICU set up and oxygen cylinders at home for COVID-19 patients, police said on Thursday.
DCP (North) Anto Alphonse said that the accused has been identified as Aryan Singh alias Dhananjay, a resident of Noida who is pursuing B.Tech from a noted institute. With the money acquired from cheating people, he stayed at luxury hotels in Gurugram, Noida and Jammu. Police said he used Instagram to target his victims and also used the name of a well-known foundation to gain trust.
Police said a relative of a patient lodged the complaint stating that he has been cheated by the accused. The complainant said that he received a message on a WhatsApp group for setting up ICU facility at home and contacted him at the given mobile number where the person introduced himself as Dhananjay and directed him to deposit ₹3,950 as advance. When the complainant deposited the money in an e-wallet, the accused stopped taking calls.
Nabbed from Pathankot
During the probe, the accused was located in Jammu and later apprehended from Pathankot from where he was brought to Delhi. During interrogation, he allegedly told the police that he posted a story on Instagram, inquiring about oxygen cylinder. Seeing an overwhelming response, he came up with the idea of duping people in the name of setting up ICU at home.
He further disclosed that his number got shared on WhatsApp through several groups and he was contacted by relatives of COVID-19 patients, who were looking for ICU beds in a hospital. He believed that the victims would not approach police over losing a small amount of money, Mr. Alphonse said.
