‘Friendly’ neighbours spin fraud with govt contract bait

Noida: Police have made two arrests and filed a case against six people, including a senior government official in the animal husbandry department, for allegedly perpetrating a fraud under the ruse of buying cars to transport government officials. Their sales pitch – also a ruse – to potential investors was that they had won a government contract.
For this, the perpetrators started a bogus initiative called ‘Car Service Yatra’ and targeted a Greater Noida-based boutique owner. They managed to convince 26 of her contacts – family members and friends – to invest. Police suspect the total number of people cheated to be around 40.
The main accused, identified by police as Deepak and is family members, live in the same society as boutique owner Reetu Chaudhary – Stellar MI City Homes in Omicron. Deepak and his family allegedly befriended Chaudhary and her family and invited them to invest in Deepak’s sham company after earning their trust.
According to Chaudhary’s complaint, Deepak’s mother Pushpa initiated contact, first by introducing her to a trust dedicated to religious work and then inviting them on festivals and other occasions. Subsequently, Chaudhary got to know Deepak’s wife Ruhi and his cousin Vasu, and later, SK Malik, the government official based in Lucknow.
In September 2020, according to the complaint, Deepak and the others invited the Chaudharys home and claimed to have won a UP government contract for 100 cars, which would soon increase to 400. Propping up Malik for his contacts with politicians and government officials, they sought investments for the company, saying the more the investment, the higher the return would be, according to the complaint.
“For every car, they needed to invest Rs 3-4 lakh and would get a return of Rs 25,000 every month,” reads the complaint, based on which an FIR was lodged at Phase III police station. Chaudhary claimed she invested Rs 9 lakh via cheque in September and got her brother to invest Rs 3 lakh. “The accused deposited the amount in their own accounts, claiming the company account was yet to be operational. An agreement was made on a stamp paper and they gave returns of Rs 25,000 per month for some months. Later, they claimed the company had received an order of 50 vehicles for EOW (economic offences wing) Meerut and Lucknow and sought more investments,” says the complaint.
Cumulatively, Chaudhary arranged for investments worth Rs 2.06 crore, of which Rs 23.5 lakh was returned in the initial months. However, they sold the idea of setting up a partner firm for e-bikes to Chaudhary, which led to the formation of Garv Bharat Innovation on January 6 this year, in which the Rs 23.5 lakh was re-invested. Chaudhary alleged a total of Rs 61.5 lakh was invested in this firm.
When the returns began to dry up and she confronted Deepak, she alleged he and others threatened her, saying there was no company and she should forget her money. The FIR has been lodged against Deepak, Malik, Pushpa, Ruhi, Vasu and another woman, Komal, under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467, 468 and 471 (forgery), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Deepak and a person identified as Vipin Tomar have been arrested. “Vipin’s name came up during investigation and he too is one of the beneficiaries who received the money collected through this fraud in his account,” senior sub inspector Feroz Akhtar said. A Tata Harrier and an iPhone have been seized from the accused.