Two young men impersonating as insurance agents of a reputed company to cheat a subscriber have been arrested in South Delhi. The police claim to have seized from them a “magic” pen and Rs.95,000 in cash.
The breakthrough came after Masood Ahmed, a resident of Jama Masjid, lodged a complaint alleging that he was cheated by some persons claiming themselves to be representatives of an insurance company. He received a call on June 15 stating that the premium of his policy was due three days later and that an executive would come to his house to collect the payment through cheque.
Phone call
The same day, a young man visited Masood stating that he had been sent to collect the cheque. When Masood took out his cheque book, the executive asked him to issue a cheque in favour of the company and mention his policy number and premium amount on the cheque leaf. He then offered his pen to Masood to sign the cheque and then left.
Masood received a phone call on Tuesday stating that the company had received the check and a few minutes later, through a short-messaging service, he was informed that Rs.1.43 lakh had been debited from his bank account. Stunned, he made enquiries and found that the money was withdrawn by one Anil Dhama. Based on his complaint, the police registered a case.
The police examined the camera footage of the bank from where the money had been withdrawn. Acting on a tip-off that one of the suspects would come to Laxmi Nagar, the police laid a trap and arrested him on Friday. He was identified as Praveen Kumar, a resident of Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh.
During interrogation, he purportedly disclosed that he along with co-accused Hukam Chand earlier worked as a tele-marketing executive with a company. They allegedly conspired to cheat insurance policy subscribers whose policies were due. Hukam Chand arranged a “magic” pen whose ink disappears when heated.
At the instance of Hukam Chand, Praveen allegedly called Masood and cheated him using the pen. According to the police, Praveen received Rs.28,000 as his cut. The main accused, Hukam Chand, has also been arrested.
