Phagwara (Pb):- Five persons of a family, including two women, have been booked for allegedly cheating an NRI of Rs 15 crore on the pretext of setting up a lucrative for him in the UAE and Delhi, police said today.
SHO Inderjit Singh identified the accused as — Sohan Lal Shinh, his wife Veena Shinh, sons Lokesh Shinh and Mohit Shinh and daughter-in-law Idlim Shinh.
He said a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 420 (cheating), 406 (breach of trust) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) was yesterday registered against the five after a complaint was lodged by the Belgium-based NRI Sarabjit Singh.
Sarabjit said he is settled in Belgium for the last 25 years, though he originally belonged to Barnala in Punjab. The accused met him in June 20014 at a function in Delhi, Singh said.
Lokesh allegedly told the complainant that he worked at a bank in Australia and was a business expert and could help boost his business prospects.
Lokesh invited Sarabjit to Phagwara and also visited the latter’s residence in Barnala and persuaded him to have a joint business deal, the SHO said.
The NRI told the police that he allegedly gave Rs 1 crore to Lokesh in presence of his nephews Baljit Singh and Gurjant Singh and Rs 75 lakh more after a few months.
He was then invited to Dubai where Lokesh and they registered a joint business company, Singh said.
Later, Sarabjit’s family invested money in the company which totalled up to Rs 15 crore and Lokesh then fraudulently transferred the company in his brother and wife’s names, duping the NRI of the money, he said.
After the fraud, the entire family has gone underground and a search is on for them, he added.
PTI
