A 77-year-old retired Delhi municipal corporation official was allegedly duped of Rs 32.24 lakh over the phone by a group of six people, the police said on Wednesday.

According to the police, an FIR was filed at the Sector 29 police station on Wednesday under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security) and 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) of the Indian Penal Code.

The victim, a resident of a society on MG Road, had filed for an insurance claim and the fraudsters promised to get him Rs3 crore. They then asked him to deposit Rs 32.24 lakh as different fees in multiple online transactions over four months, assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sandeep, who is investigating the case, said.

One of the fraudsters, who claimed to be an income tax officer, even sent the victim photos of an ID card and Aadhaar Card over WhatsApp, the victim told the police.

“The victim is a 77-year-old retired Delhi municipal corporation employee. We have received different phone numbers from which calls were made to the victim. We are investigating the case,” the ASI said.

The victim told the police that in the first week of June, he got a phone call from a person who introduced himself as BR Ahuja, a retired headmaster, and said that he got Rs 78 lakh as claim amount from an insurance company through a chief investigating officer (CIO) in Hyderabad. Ahuja allegedly told the victim that the latter’s file was also pending with the same CIO and the victim could get as much as Rs 3 crore.

Later, the alleged CIO and his associate asked the victim to transfer Rs17.74 lakh and Rs 4 lakh to different bank accounts.

On September 4, the victim got a phone call from a man who introduced himself as Prabhu Dayal Sharma, an income tax official, and sent him alleged photos of his ID card and Aadhaar Card over WhatsApp, the victim told the police. Sharma then told the victim that a lawyer, Harish Prasad Malhotra, would contact him.

On October 4, ‘Malhotra’ called the victim and talked about the claim and then asked him to transfer Rs 3 lakh as processing fee, and the victim followed his directions, the police said.

Later a woman who claimed to be Puspha Chawla, an alleged RBI employee from Mumbai, called him and asked him to deposit GST for the amount he would get. He again transferred around Rs 7.5 lakh to the account numbers given by ‘Chawla’.

On Wednesday, the victim approached the police and filed a complaint as he did not get the promised money.

The victim’s phone was switched off and he could not be reached for a comment.

First Published: Dec 13, 2018 09:29 IST