Twelve persons, including eight women, who allegedly cheated students of over Rs.45 lakh on the pretext of providing them education loan, have been arrested by the Delhi Police Crime Branch. The police have so far identified 36 bank accounts operated by the accused.
The racket was unearthed after a student living in Model Town lodged a complaint that he was cheated by the owners of one Rotomax Finance Private Limited. The student, who wanted to pursue a course in hotel management, came across a newspaper advertisement published by the company offering easy loan for only Rs.250. The firm claimed that other expenses would be charged after the loan amount was disbursed.
Hoping to get a loan of Rs.3 lakh, the complainant called up a company representative through a mobile phone number mentioned in the advertisement. A woman picked up the call and assured that the amount would be arranged. She asked him to send his educational qualification papers to an email address.
The student was instructed over the phone by another woman to deposit Rs.250 in a bank account in the name of Rajinder Kumar and then was asked to deposit Rs.5,000 for verification of the documents.
Claiming that his loan had been approved, a woman representative later called him up stating that an agent would soon deliver a demand draft for Rs.3 lakh at his residence.
However, the victim again received a call asking him to pay up Rs.10,000 as insurance against the loan. He paid the amount to a person outside the Azadpur bus terminal, following which he was again made to deposit Rs.1,550 in another bank account. The company “employees” then vanished from the scene.
Forged papers
Investigations revealed that the mobile phone numbers had been obtained on forged papers. The bank accounts were also opened using fake identification documents. However, the police managed to trace the premises at Sector 8 of Rohini from where the gang members were operating.
Subsequent raids on March 23 led to the arrest of main accused Sandeep Kakkar (25) and his brother Vishal (22). At their instance, the police arrested eight women and their accomplices named Sandeep Bajaj (25) and Ram Avtar (27).
Fictitious companies
The accused disclosed that they had been operating for the past year. In the name of various fictitious companies, they allegedly got advertisements published in regional and national newspapers in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. “They had obtained 27 mobile phone SIM cards on fake papers. They would frequently shift base to evade detection,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ashok Chand.
The accused were paying a monthly rent of Rs.17,500 for the second-floor office in Rohini. They would hire women at a salary of Rs.10,000 plus incentives.
Sandeep earlier worked with a share-trading company, whereas Sandeep Bajaj was previously with a multinational bank. The police said he along with Ram Avtar forged documents to open bank accounts. He allegedly charged Rs.40,000 as initial payment and 15 per cent of the deposits per month for each bank account. The accused gave Rs.25,000 to Ram Avtar, who earlier worked with a private bank as a field executive.
