Retired army officer duped of Rs 2.4 crore; 1 held

New Delhi, March 9 The Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police has arrested a 34-year-old man for duping a retired Army Colonel to the tune of Rs 2.40 crore on the pretext of reimbursing insurance policy claims.

The arrested individual was identified as Joyjeet Sarkar, a resident of Kestopur, West Bengal.

Furnishing details, Joint Commissioner of Police (Economic Offences Wing) Chhaya Sharma said a case was registered in October 2018 on the complaint of a retired Colonel alleging that he invested Rs 20 lakh in ICICI Prudential Life insurance company through an agent or bank official.

"When the complainant was in need of money he could not get the premature surrender value of the policy," the police officer said.

In 2012-13, the complainant contacted one O.P. Rathore who helped him to get the policy value reimbursed.

The complainant developed trust in Rathore, hence further invested Rs 50 lakh in different policies. Thereafter, Rathore switched off his mobile phone and the complainant realized that he was again cheated.

In 2017, accused Ajay Awasthi, in a well-planned manner, called the complainant and allured him to deposit a little amount to get reimbursed the amount of policy, as some amount was required to pay some taxes etc.

The complainant was too much influenced by the alleged persons and on their assurance he further paid Rs 2.4 crore to different person's accounts.

"The retired Colonel also borrowed money from his relatives to pay the alleged persons," said the senior official.

Accordingly, the police registered a case and initiated an investigation. During the probe, further details from the beneficiary accounts were obtained in which the money was transferred.

"The main beneficiary of the amount was accused Joyjeet Sarkar and he mentioned different addresses in his bank accounts," Sharma said, adding searches were conducted at all specified locations in Delhi but the accused was not found.

Meanwhile, an information was received that the family of accused Sarkar is residing in Kolkata. Subsequently, on March 8, a raid was conducted and the accused was arrested from Kestopur, Kolkata.