Senior citizen couple duped of Rs 74 lakh

Surat: A senior citizen couple, who lives in Bhatar, was cheated by a conman from New Delhi of Rs73.43 lakh. The victims were lured to invest in some dubious mutual fund and fixed deposit schemes by him. When after three years, the couple demanded their money back with returns, the accused stopped answering their phone calls.
Dilip R Chaturvedi, 69, in his police complaint said RL Sharma, a resident of Dwarka, New Delhi, started calling him from 2015 onwards and convinced him to invest in ‘dubious’ mutual fund and deposit schemes saying that they will double his capital. Thus, he kept depositing money in different accounts as asked by Sharma on different dates through NEFT.

Chaturvedi called up Sharma in October and asked him to return his money and thereafter the latter never picked up his phone. Chaturvedi registered a police complaint against the accused realizing that he has been cheated.

A police officer said, “Complainant said that every time after talking to him on phone about investment, the accused would send him bhajans on WhatsApp. After listening to the bhajans, he would send the money as directed by the accused to the latter’s accounts in different banks. The complainant says he was hypnotized by the accused.”

A police team will visit New Delhi soon to bring the fraudster to Surat. The senior citizen couple retired from service a few years ago. Their two sons are settled abroad.