One held for duping doctor of Rs 37 lakh

In a four-month-old cheating case wherein a private doctor from Sriganganagar was duped of Rs 37 lakhs through digital arrest, the police have arrested a person on Saturday. The police have kept nearly Rs 5 lakhs of the Rs 37 lakhs cheated from the doctor on hold in a bank account.

The accused was identified as Vishnu Rajput. Based on the report given by Dr Rajveer Beniwal, a case was registered on July 30 against unidentified persons, who digitally arrested him by posing as Customs, Delhi Police and CBI officers, and cheated him of Rs 36.70 lakh.

SI Hansraj, who is the investigating officer, said Vishnu Rajput (24) had been arrested from a village in Nagaur district in Rajasthan. The amount extorted from Dr Beniwal was initially deposited in three bank accounts. Later, this amount was transferred to roughly 18 bank accounts. Out of this, Rs 5 lakh was deposited in the account of Vishnu Rajput, who is a labourer. A person named Vikram from Vishnu’s village allegedly withdrew the amount. He had lured Vishnu to sign the cheque and also took his bank’s passbook. In return of letting him use the bank account, Vishnu Rajput got only Rs 6,000 from Vikram.

The investigating officer said Vikram was missing. Out of the bank accounts in which Dr Beniwal’s money was deposited and transferred, only Rs 5 lakh could be put on hold, and the rest of the amount was withdrawn by fraudsters.

On July 16, an unknown person, posing as a Customs Officer, called Dr Beniwal and told him that a parcel had been seized containing 16 fake passports, 58 ATM cards and 140 gm MDMA drugs, and that the case had been transferred to the Delhi Police. He said it would also be investigated by the CBI.

Then, a person named Ajit Srivastava talked to the doctor on phone, introducing himself as CBI Special Officer. The doctor was digitally arrested and Rs 36.70 lakh from his bank account was transferred to other accounts. — OC