The victim said the accused advised him to put money in mutual funds instead of keeping it in a bank.An 83-year-old man, who had retired as deputy director (security) from Lok Sabha, was duped of over Rs 1 crore by a couple on the pretext of getting him to invest in mutual funds, the Gurgaon police said. The two have been booked for allegedly misappropriating funds by opening bank accounts in the victim’s name using forged documents.
The police revealed that the main accused’s wife was a sub-broker with an investment firm. “An FIR has been registered and a probe has been initiated. The couple is yet to be arrested. The complainant had managed to recover over Rs 30 lakh by writing to firms where his money had been invested with forged documents,” said a police officer.
According to the police, the main accused was posted at a Gurgaon-based branch of a private bank when he got acquainted with the victim. In the police complaint, the victim said he came in contact with the accused in 2013. “He advised me to put money in mutual funds instead of keeping it in a bank. I gave him two cheques worth Rs 1 crore in July 2018 and September 2018… I asked him about my investments and he informed me that they are doing very good,” the complainant said in the FIR.
He added that in March 2019, the accused took another Rs 30 lakh via cheque to invest in the shares of a multinational firm. “My son who lives abroad asked him for statements of the investments multiple times and he shared fake statements. In April 2021, my son visited us to help out during Covid and he started looking at our financial statements. He again asked the accused about the status of the investment and brokerage firm’s account access, but received false promises,” he added.
“When my son contacted the brokerage firm, he found that the accused had been running a sub-brokerage company with his wife. They took control of my account by getting OTP from my phone without my knowledge,” the complainant said in the FIR.
An FIR was registered under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently or dishonestly using a forged document or electronic record as genuine), 34 (common intention) and sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code at Sushant Lok police station on Wednesday, officers said.