Man, girlfriend held for duping over 500 people

New Delhi: June 21: A 24-year-old man and his girlfriend have been arrested for allegedly duping over 500 people on the pretext of giving loans at low interest rates from Pitampura in West Delhi, the police said on Wednesday.

A complaint was filed by one Nazim Hussain at the Punjabi Bagh police station, in which he alleged that he was cheated of Rs 6,835, which he had paid through a cheque to a collection agent, after being contacted by the accused for an “easy” loan. A case was registered and a probe launched into the allegation, said DCP (West) Vijay Kumar.

The main accused, Ashwini Kumar (24), and his girlfriend were arrested from Pitampura on June 17, he added.

On the basis of the information provided by the arrested duo, the police subsequently raided a call centre, from where the accused used to call up the potential targets. A total of 51 cancelled cheques, 108 account payee cheques for a total amount of Rs 6,83,201, 14 walkie-talkie sets and 20 SIM cards were seized from the call centre, said the officer.

“A scrutiny of the records at the call centre revealed that the duo had cheated a total of 519 people in four months,” he added. The main accused, who used to work earlier as a tele-caller, told the police that he used to run the racket along with his girlfriend. The interrogation of the accused also revealed that they had opened a firm. The cheques were initially deposited in the company’s bank account.