The Anti-Bank Fraud Wing of the Central Crime Branch has arrested a 29-year-old woman in Delhi on charges of cheating a Chennai-based senior citizen of over ₹2.13 crore. The accused was part of a gang arrested in April on charges of cheating people by posing as representatives of an insurance company.
The victim, Sudha Sridharan, 68, is a resident of Mandaveli and wife of the late J. Sridharan, an IRS officer. In March 2019, a person called her, posing as an officer in a life insurance company. The caller told her that ₹19 lakh needed to be settled towards her insurance claim following the demise of her husband. She was convinced to credit a few lakh rupees to a fictitious account mentioned by the fraudster to settle the claim. Later, another caller asked her to transfer funds to another account. Subsequently the gang made Ms. Sridharan deposit ₹2.13 crore into various bank accounts between March and October 2019.
A case was registered by the CCB and six persons were arrested. They were identified as Aman Prasad, 30, of Uttam Nagar; Pradeep Kumar, 30, of Nangloi; Manojkumar, 45, of Jeevan Park; Kuber Sharma alias Prince, 30, of Mahendra Park; Himanshu Tyagi, 26, of Vikas Nagar; and Rampal, 31, of Uttam Nagar.
Meanwhile, on July 24, Simranjith Sharma of Tilak Nagar was secured and brought to the city on Tuesday. She was remanded in judicial custody. The fraudsters were working earlier with a call centre which dealt with calls of an insurance firm. They had created fictitious accounts and used SIM cards which were procured without authorisation, officials said. Further investigations are on.
