An engineering student allegedly duped a Ghaziabad-based artist of ₹14.5 lakh by selling him a sedan and then taking it back with the help of a duplicate key. The accused was arrested on Saturday from Uttarakhand, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) Chinmoy Biswal confirmed the arrest of Manoj Singhal and said that the car has been recovered from Karol Bagh where he runs of a mobile phone shop.
A senior police officer privy to the case said that the victim, Sarfarazudin, a high-profile sculptor and resident of Golf Links in Ghaziabad, approached Hazrat Nizamuddin police stating that he had bought a second-hand car from Singhal on an agreement to pay ₹17.5 lakh in January 2017. The complainant was using the car as a taxi for a cab aggregating company. “He had paid ₹50,000 as down payment and got the possession of the car. Over the next few months, he paid ₹14 lakh to Singhal using Internet banking,” the officer said.
The victim asked Singhal to transfer the vehicle in his name, but he allegedly told Mr. Sarfarazudin that he will get the documentation done only after the final payment.
On March 15 this year, Singhal allegedly called Mr. Sarfarazudin for the final payment at the National Zoological Park, Delhi.
“I had gone with my wife Sakshi to meet him. We all sat in the canteen but nothing fruitful came of the discussion. Singhal then left and took the car using a duplicate key which he hadn’t given to me,” the victim told the police.
Mr. Biswal said that a case of cheating was registered on Sarfarazudin’s complaint and the accused was called for questioning. Singhal, however, did not join the investigation. A non-bailable warrant was issued against him on Friday and technical surveillance was mounted.
On Saturday, Singhal was arrested from Kashipur in Uttarakhand and on his instance, the car was seized from Bidanpur in Karol Bagh. The police said Singhal is a BTech graduate and is currently pursuing MTech while running the shop.
