Fraudster cheats Delhi man, arrested in Manali

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, July 20

The Kullu police cyber cell has arrested a fraudster for cheating people by presenting himself as a retired Colonel of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

Kullu SP Gurdev Sharma said that they had received a complaint that a person from Manali called up the complainant and introduced himself as a retired Colonel of the BRO. He claimed that he could manage a bulk order of goods required by the BRO.

The SP said that the complainant came from Delhi to Manali to negotiate the deal and it was settled. The complainant gave Rs 25,000 to the fraudster, who assured him of sending a quotation but later he switched off his mobile phone and disappeared.

Sharma said that the cyber cell team traced the fraudster, Anil Gupta (45), who was staying as a tenant at Patlikul in Manali, and nabbed him with the help of the local police. He added that during interrogation, Gupta, a native of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, confessed to having cheated several people in various states in the past 21 years. He had targeted many people in Mumbai, Punjab, Chandigarh, Mohali, Uttarakhand, Mandi and Kullu.

The accused stated that he used to call up people and cheat them in a professional way. The SP said that Gupta used to change his mobile phone number and location after every fraud. Instead of committing big frauds, he used to commit small frauds thinking that the police would not register a case and if caught, the matter could be settled mutually.

The SP said that the accused had also created many fake email IDs in the name of the BRO and also made fake stamps and letterhead pads. He added that Gupta had duped many persons and several suspicious items were recovered from him. Many bank account details, ATM cards, mobile phones, SIM cards were recovered and the investigation is underway.

He said that Gupta was living in Manali for the past two years. He added that the accused disclosed that he had never been caught.