Elderly couple duped of over ₹5 cr.; two held

Accused took money from the victims by promising high returns

Two men have been arrested for allegedly cheating an octogenarian couple of ₹5.24 crore on the pretext of high returns on their investments, the police said on Friday.

Additional Commissioner of Police (EOW) R.K. Singh said the accused have been identified as Ankit Thakur, 29, and Vinod Arya, 28, who allegedly duped the senior citizens through their firm — Ecounsellor Webtech Private Limited — that was engaged in website development.

The police said that the duo took advantage of the victim, who is a retired senior government employee with the Ministry of Labour and is visually-impaired. He and his wife were duped to the tune of ₹5.24 crore on the pretext of providing high returns.

Police said the victims wanted to settle in U.S. with their children, who are employed and settled there. So they decided to sell their immovable properties acquired during the lifetime.

“They came in contact with the accused, who induced them through rosy presentation of very high returns for investing the money of the sale proceeds in their company. All the money was handed over to the duo, who in the name of website production misappropriated it,” he said.

For winning the confidence of the victims, they issued post-dated cheques from bogus accounts which got bounced, the officer said.

“A case was registered. On the basis of the meticulous investigation and development of information, both the accused were arrested. They have been taken to custody and remanded. Further investigation is on,” said Mr. Singh.

Police said the accused, who are college dropouts, are the directors and authorised signatories of the alleged company where the payments received from the victims were deposited.